nominal terms, within the latest available projections of the imf. also, the trajectory of the public debt is downward, public investments are higher than the value of the budget deficit and the draft envisages contingencies for withstanding adverse volatilities in the exchange rate and interest rates. also, a table of medium - term projections for public finances is attached to the draft budget. the table suggests fiscal consolidation will continue in the medium term horizon. from this perspective, the bank of albania finds that the deficit of social security schemes, health insurance schemes and other social securities is at around 4. 6 % of the gdp or 2. 6 times higher than the overall budget deficit. analysed in greater detail, the deficit of the social security scheme, also known as the pension scheme, is expected to be at around 1. 5 % of the gdp, within the projections made in the reform of this system, and set on a downward trend. on the other hand, the deficit of the other schemes is more stable. beyond the counter - cyclicality of various elements in these schemes, the bank of albania judges that spaces should be considered for further reducing their structural deficit. the draft budget 2019 introduces a novelty in terms of explicitly assessing the potential risks to the realisation of the budget. the bank of albania welcomes this novelty and encourages that it become an integral part of annual and medium - term budget plans. with regard to these risk scenarios, the bank of albania has the following comments : first, the assessment of the impact from potential negative shocks, on the economy and public finance, should be accompanied by the identification of measures that need to be taken in order to cut expenditures and comply with the budget deficit value. second, the assessment of the risk arising from public - private partnership programmes, the so - called ppps, suggests that deviations from the requirements of the law for annual ppp payments to the level of 5 % of tax revenues of the previous year will be covered through the increase in revenues. the bank of albania judges that, beyond this regulatory mechanism for the purpose of complying with the legal ceiling, the potential increase in the budget deficit should be avoided by reducing budget expenditures. moreover, this reduction should target – to the maximum possible extent – budget sectors that generate such deviations. the sanctioning of this principle serves to maintain budget balances, maintain balances in the inter - sectorial allocation of funds and discipline the contracting of such programmes. the bank of

have reflected the banks ’ targets on financial indicators, the monetary policy at home and in the countries of the major currencies, as well as the country risk margin. we deem that over this period, these interest rates have been appropriate for a sustainable development of the banking financial intermediation. during the last 2 – 3 years, the country ’ s economy was affected by the global economic and financial crisis. the public authorities at home were committed to supporting the domestic economic development by pursuing stimulus fiscal and monetary policies. in the banking sector, the global financial crisis appeared mainly with the contracted paces of lending to the economy. throughout this period, the bank of albania has aimed at preventing the deepening of the impact of this crisis by conducting an ease monetary policy and supplying the interbank market with necessary liquidity. during 2009 and 2010, the bank of albania lowered the key interest rate by 1. 25 percentage points, to 5 %. also, during the major part of 2009, the banks benefited unlimited liquidity, at an interest rate equal to the key policy rate. in the meantime, before the impact of the crisis, through special regulatory acts initiated bis central bankers ’ speeches since 2006, the bank of albania has aimed at limiting some risks arising from banking activity, such as rapid and foreign - currency lending, by setting higher capital requirements for more exposed banks. throughout this period, we have communicated regularly with the public at large, businesses and banking industry, to explain our actions and discuss the challenges posed to economic actors. we believe that as a result of these actions taken by public authorities and the cooperation with the financial industry, the banking sector has successfully withstood the impact of the global financial crises, remaining sustainable and maintaining positive indicators of financial intermediation. thus, during 2010, the banking sector credit growth, albeit lower than in the pre - crisis period, was considerable, around 9 %, while in some central and south - eastern european countries, it was negative. the deceleration of credit growth, which was initially driven by supply - side factors, is mostly a phenomenon attributed to the decline in the demand for loans. as a consequence of weaker expectations for activity development, businesses decreased their production capacity utilization, lowering investment objectives and the demand for loan. in spite of weathering the direct impact of the crisis, important challenges lay ahead of the banking sector and the bank of albania. first, the performance of credit quality should be monitored prudentially, aiming to timely identify