openness to the general public. we were not alone. that sentiment became mainstream across the globe, as well. central bankers are nowadays cornered to deliver more in their countries, to actively punish the offenders of fiduciary and prove more empathic with debtors and, why not, more compliant and tolerant with populist measures that affect the financial sector and macroeconomic stability. otherwise their independence would be put at risk, as it is already challenged by public representatives. given the rapid change in perceptions in a ‘ post - truth ’ environment, with few impartial media and the increase in populism, most central banks across the world, including the national bank of romania, may face a possible delay in recovering the public trust to the pre - crisis levels. even if they spoke more plainly or loudly, using all the modern communication toolkits, the slow bridging 4 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches of the trust gap should not crush the contribution of independent central banks to the efforts to avert crises, achieve economic progress and be an open and responsible institution in the society. and, in the national bank of romania ’ s case, its legacy is an important pillar of romania ’ s modernisation. 5 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches

also well above industry and regulatory standards. your total loan portfolio is nearly half a billion which accounts to 65. 5 percent of your total assets. your lending activities have surely provided farmers and other entrepreneurial rural folks with wider latitude in accessing credit which translated to better lives for the rural community. with your wide array of deposit products and credit lending programs, you managed to sustain bottom line figures at very good levels. rang - ay ’ s performance definitely did not go unnoticed as evidenced by the various accolades from financial and non - financial organizations 2, the bangko sentral included. as such, one can say that rang - ay is poised to further improve its level of efficiency to ensure continuous market leadership during these challenging but equally rewarding times. to date, the rang - ay bank has 1 head office, 9 bank branches and 1 affiliate bank ( rural bank of burgos, which will be consolidated with rang - ay, inc. following the grant of the certificate of authority to operate by the bsp rang - ay received 1 award from the bsp, 7 awards from other banks, 1 award from rural credit and guarantee corporation and 3 awards from a private non - government organization ( ngo ). industry outlook let me therefore take the next few minutes to outline the banking industry prospects in 2006 to help you firm up your strategic plans for this year and beyond. we are optimistic that the rural banking industry will sustain its positive performance this year and remain in the forefront of reforms as catalysts of a broad - based development in the countryside. for our part at the regulatory front, the bsp remains committed to the continuous implementation of our reform program to sustain financial stability and growth. specifically, our objective is to have a more stable, more efficient and a more depositor and friendly banking system. we are still advocating clean up of banks ’ balance sheets through the expedient and innovative disposition of non - performing assets. this is central to restoring the credit supply to the productive sectors of the economy. our goal is to bring the banking industry ’ s npa / npl ratio to single - digit level. as of end - june 2005, the rural banking industry ’ s npa / npl ratios stood at 11. 9 and 14. 7 percent, respectively. this is still double the pre - crisis period since the sale of npas under the spv law only created a small dent on the inventory of acquired assets arising from soured loans. we, thus, welcome