action plan of the bank of albania is a broad and complex process, which consists in legal and institutional regulations and decisions. i am happy to see that the ebrd has reached the conclusion that this legal, regulatory and institutional process will contribute to reducing the nonperforming loans, in the long term. it is also encouraging to note that the report makes a similar positive assessment for a group of reforms undertaken by the albanian government and other authorities in the area of market liberalisation, privatisations, energy sector and infrastructure. 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches looking ahead, the report assesses objectively the global macroeconomic environment as overall favourable. the nature and origin of capital flows toward the transition economies is immune from the adverse effects from the brexit or increase in interest rates in the us economy. for the central and southeastern europe, during 2017, the economy is expected to grow faster, driven by domestic factors and a slight and stable improvement of the economic situation in foreign trading partners. the main risks relate to the performance of commodity prices, and in particular to geopolitical and global economic developments. the deepening social inequality is an issue of particular concern that has been present across the board in transition countries. the report evidences that inequality in the economy, in terms of opportunities and financial inclusion, has been expanding, contributing negatively to economic welfare in transition countries. finding solutions is a difficult challenge, with financial education and financial inclusion considered as tools for addressing this issue successfully. i would like to take advantage of this opportunity to emphasise that the bank of albania and the banking system are paying particular attention to these two topics. our financial education programmes, informative publications on banking products and services, coupled with regulation, licencing, introduction and support for new payment and financial services technology and instruments, are aimed at enhancing financial inclusion and generating opportunities for financial access for all groups of the society. the bank of albania deems that more may be done with regard to designing and promoting financial products that satisfy better the needs of such groups. in addition, we think that there is more space for faster growth of credit to the private sector, particularly for certain sectors, in which inequality is more notable. more concretely, agriculture is a good example to illustrate this point. while it contributes a significant share to the gross national product, it only gets a small share of credit and other financial products. beyond these policies and strategies for developing financial products, the real fight against poverty and inequality

workable process by which modest improvements in supervision and regulation at the outset can be adjusted and further enhanced over time as experience and operational feasibility dictate. in particular, we should avoid mechanical or formulaic approaches that, whether intentionally or not, effectively “ lock ” us into particular technologies long after they become outmoded. we should be planning for the long pull, not developing near - term quick fixes. it is the framework that we must get right. the application might initially be bare - boned but over time become more sophisticated. for example, it could begin with a limited number of risk “ buckets ” and, over time, be expanded to include not only more risk categories, but also the use of an individual bank ’ s full credit - risk model – all within the same supervisory framework and unique to each bank. the design of the improved oversight approach is a work in progress. we are endeavoring to develop a program that is the least intrusive, most market based, and most consistent with current and future sound risk - management practices possible, given our responsibilities for financial market stability.