contribution of all economic players to guaranteeing them. these messages, which constitute the main topics of this quarterly report, will be further elaborated below. * * * the global context that outlined albania ’ s economic development over this period has recovered, however the financial markets and investor sentiment remain highly volatile. global economy continued to recover in the second quarter of 2010, being largely driven by the rapid economic growth in emerging economies and the fiscal and monetary stimulus in advanced economies. the euro area is showing signs of stable growth but our main trading partners, italy and greece, are performing less positively. despite the higher demand, the worldwide negative output gap has yielded low inflationary pressures, which are expected to persist in the medium run as well. however, this positive setting is still incomplete as long as unemployment remains high in the majority of countries. public debt figures are weighed down further by the fiscal burden contracted as a result of the high - cost government measures undertaken over the last two years to fuel the economy, while the fiscal room has narrowed down substantially. concerns over fiscal sustainability, particularly in some euro area countries, have been also reflected in the performance of financial markets, which featured higher risk premia and elevated profit margins. against this global background, official statistics show that the albanian economy has experienced a rebound in growth. following the decline of gdp in the last quarter of 2009 and the weak economic activity in the early months of 2010, the available data on the real and monetary sector suggest that the albanian economy posted positive growth rates in the first half of the present year. according to instat ’ s preliminary data, gdp grew 2 % y - o - y in the first quarter of 2010. the growth in foreign demand was reflected positively in the performance of industry, which grew 27. 5 % for this period. on the other hand, the slower domestic demand was manifested in moderate growth rates of services and progressive contraction in the construction sector. the more positive performance of gdp in the first quarter of 2010 finds more support in the qualitative data. the economic tendency indicator particularly increased 4. 6 points versus the previous quarter, though remaining well below its long - term average. along with other indirect indicators, like credit growth trend and the higher pace of budget revenue, business and consumer expectations for the second quarter of the present year suggest that economic growth posted similar rates to the first quarter. in absence of timely data on the performance of demand components, our analyses based on quantitative and qualitative indirect indicators suggest that domestic demand

market functioning and regulation and believing that the market and the right are dynamic, the bank of albania has supplied the banking market and the banking right with a new instrument – the repurchase agreement. by means of the law on repurchase agreement and the master contract, the bank of albania has initiated a process which needs to be further developed by the specialists of the area. personally and institutionally, we are expecting these efforts to be concluded with the execution of the first transactions of this kind. it is for this purpose that i invite all the participants in this workshop, which for the first time has brought together judges, prosecutors and lawyers from the banking market, to be active and complement one another. with the conviction that our initiative will be followed by other similar activities in the future, i wish you good proceedings. thank you for your attention.