them? how can we make use of these digital developments in our policy setting? and, what roles could central banks play in promoting new technologies and new digital platforms? to begin approaching these questions, we first have to admit that the boundary for new innovations or technologies is limitless and their potential impacts, at current juncture, may not be fully uncovered. there are things that we know and things that we don ’ t. and even what we know and can identify today, our perceptions may be obscured by our perceived understanding based on past world views. there is a fine line between the knowns and the unknowns. navigating through these will require striking the right balance between having an open mindset to allow innovations to prosper while ensuring that key risks can be contained. for the “ known territory, ” essentially developments that we have begun to identify use cases, can control the risks, and believe that the benefits will outweigh the costs, we must continue to refine our understanding, expand our knowledge, and find ways to streamline them into our policymaking process. this is so that the perception or the extent of what we know becomes clearer. for instance, growing popularity of internet - of - things — from usage of smartphones to various data - transmitting devices — has created massive amount of individual - level and transaction - level data. these “ big data ” can help unlock our understanding of the behavioral patterns, perhaps, not even realized by individual data owners. at the bank of thailand, we have begun employing big data analysis in macroeconomic, banking sector, and financial market assessments to complement our policymaking process. this has helped ensure that our policy actions are evidence - based and timely. at the same time, necessary steps are taken to validate the integrity and quality of data used as well as to safeguard data privacy. we are just scratching the surface of the potential usage of big data and much more work will be done in this area in the years to come. many other “ known ” areas still require further refinement : from understanding the impacts of deepening adoption of digital technology on productions, labor markets, inflation dynamics, and hence conduct of monetary policy ; 2 / 4 to the emergence of cryptocurrencies and associated payment technologies that may improve financial inclusion and incorporate ‘ smart - contracts ’, but may have implications on financial stability, consumer protection and even the environment ; and to the various proof - of - concept initiatives using dlt or blockchain on

foreign trade data point to our exports annual growth by 20. 7 % in december. on the other hand, imports accelerated their growth rates in this month, posting an annual growth of 14. 5 %. this performance is reflected in the widening of the trade deficit by 12. 0 %, year on year. to a large degree, the trade deficit reflects price developments in international markets. in real terms, the trade deficit is assessed to have narrowed during 2011. indirect data show that consumption was poor over the second half of 2011. in the fourth quarter, however, it showed improvement. indirect data obtained from the import of consumer goods, fiscal indicators and consumer confidence indices signal the recovery of consumption during this period. on the other hand, the presence of uncertainties for the future amongst albanian consumers continues to discourage consumption and dictate the consumer ’ s behaviour towards saving. bis central bankers ’ speeches private investment is assessed as improved in the fourth quarter for certain branches of the economy, while across the sectors of the economy the improvement remains low. furthermore, below potential growth and low capacity utilisation rates have reduced incentives to undertake new investments. the contribution of fiscal expenditures to aggregate demand growth has been positive over 2011, reflecting a moderate fiscal stimulus, especially during the first and fourth quarters of the year. the fiscal policy has been prudent with a view to keeping fiscal indicators within sound parameters. budget deficit for 2011 was all 45. 7 billion, remaining within the envisaged level. its performance has reflected low rates, both in terms of fiscal income and expenditures, recording an annual growth of 1. 8 % and 3. 7 %, respectively, in 2011. monetary indicators performance suggests the existence of contained monetary inflationary pressures. the annual growth rate of m3 monetary aggregate was 9. 2 % in december, in line with the deceleration over the second half of 2011. according to our analysis, the expansion of money is in conformity with the demand for real money in the economy. the expansion of money has been sustained by the increased demand of the public sector for funds at end - 2011, as well as the stable contribution of the demand by the private sector. the latter continues to reflect developments in the real economy, being conditioned mainly by weak demand for loans by businesses and households. in december, the loan portfolio of the banking system to the private sector was 10. 4 % higher than a year earlier. similar to the most part of 2011, it has reflected the demand of the