still linger. on top of all this, we have also seen a sharp appreciation of the euro, particularly against the dollar, which has taken it to a level that is higher than at its initial launch. from that short outline, it is clear that the economic and financial environment of the past five years has provided a stiff test of the single monetary policy. given this background, what has been the outcome? over the past five years, the evidence indicates that both inflation and inflation expectations, which signal the rate of price increase anticipated in the future, have remained firmly under control. since the beginning of 1999, indicators of long - term inflation expectations in the euro area have remained below but close to 2 per cent. this suggests that the new single monetary policy has been successful in anchoring long - term inflation expectations and that the public and the markets are convinced about the determination to maintain price stability over the medium - term. this has been a very significant achievement in a relatively short period of time and has been an important factor in permitting euro area interest rates to fall to their lowest levels in decades. it should also be recalled that, before the establishment of the euro and the single monetary policy, there were significant differences in long - term interest rate levels across countries. a key achievement, and also an indication of the credibility of european monetary union, has been the convergence of long - term interest rates to the lowest level prevailing in the area and not just to the average level. this has helped to improve financing conditions in many parts of the euro area. allied to the fact that intra - euro area exchange rate volatility is also now a thing of the past, this has created a much more favourable environment for consumers, the business community and investors. recent developments and background in recent years, the main influence on monetary policy, both in the euro area and globally, has been the heightened economic and financial uncertainty which persisted until mid - 2003, and the after - effects of which have still not fully dissipated. against this background, already exceptionally low global interest rates were reduced further. in the euro area, with inflation and inflation expectations under control, the governing council lowered interest rates on two occasions, march and june 2003, effectively bringing rates to levels equivalent to post - world war ii lows. for the euro area, 2003 was the third successive year in which economic growth decelerated. for the year as a whole, the euro area economy grew by only 0. 4 per cent, a most disappointing performance,

ardian fullani : albania ’ s financial sector development program opening remarks by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the inaugural reception of the financial sector development program, tirana, 9 february 2012. * * * dear mr. spindler, dear mr. williams, dear ms. timofeeva, dear participants, it is a special pleasure for me to be here in this ceremony, which marks the commencement of a new phase of cooperation with the financial services volunteers corps ( fsvc ). this is evidence of the successful existing cooperation and our commitment to take it further in the future. the bank of albania has benefited largely from the cooperation with the fsvc. in concrete terms, this cooperation has focused primarily on strengthening the institution ’ s oversight function. the assistance from the fsvc has addressed specific training needs for the bank of albania ’ s supervision staff and has complemented with concrete activities other development projects we have had with the international monetary fund and the world bank. more specifically during this period, we have been assisted to draft and implement the supervision development plan in 2004 – 07, in the framework of the cooperation with the world bank. later, cooperation challenges and needs became more concrete and specific against the background of the proliferation of the international financial crisis, re - conceptualization of international banking supervision standards and re - assessment of the role of other public authorities working to maintain the financial system ’ s stability. during 2008 – 09, the bank of albania started the revision of the regulatory and operational procedures to make them more comprehensive and solid with a view to tackle extraordinary financial situations. in this context, the fsvc has assisted us with expertise to amend and upgrade the relevant manuals. in 2010, the assistance of fsvc was requested to perfect operational risk supervision and assess it infrastructure adequacy. in addition, during the same year, assistance was received as regards revising the credit risk manual. in 2011, cooperation between the bank of albania and the fsvc focused on boosting banking risk assessment, this time around on liquidity and market risks assessment. moreover, the assistance of fsvc has proven very useful for the regulatory and operational empowerment of the albanian deposit insurance agency ( adia ). i would like to underscore the appreciation of the adia and the bank of albania, as its supervisory authority, for the invaluable contribution of fsvc experts on drafting adia ’ s strategic development plan 2002 –