process is the number of the senior managing officers in the area of finance and banking who graduated in countries from the francophonian world. of the sixteen governors of the bulgarian national bank who managed it during the period from its foundation to the second world war, eight received their higher education in economics, political science and law in belgium, france and switzerland, or specialised there. in the same period, thirty - two people held at different times the position of minister of finance, of whom nineteen graduated or specialised in these countries. today, many bulgarians continue studying the french language and culture in our schools or receive their education in francophonian countries. they are part of the 175 - million french - speaking community and in addition to the common language they are part of a common culture, which extends to all spheres of our life. i am proud that part of these people work in the bulgarian national bank and contribute a lot to the success of our institution. the increased economic and financial interrelatedness and interdependence of the countries call for ever - greater co - ordination of the economic and financial policies of the individual governments. the establishment in the 90 - ies of the past century of the principles of free movement of goods and capital increased the interdependence of the financial systems across countries, so that financial stability is no longer a national but a global issue. the significant participation of foreign capital in the banking system of a country and the massive movement of capital, largely contributing to the formation of serious imbalances, changes significantly the understanding of systemic risk and the approaches to its assessment. the above process of interrelatedness of the banking systems of individual countries necessitated the adoption of new principles of surveillance over the banking sector, as well as analysis and control of the risks arising from the ever - increasing interrelatedness between the banking sector and the other segments of the financial market. the implementation of basel ii will pose a challenge to the entire financial community, while for the newly emerging economies this process will be a serious test since their banking systems are very much open. the discussion of the common supervisory framework also brings forward the question as to what extent the high rates of growth of credit for the private sector, globally, and in many of the dynamically developing countries, in particular, poses a risk to financial stability and how much supervisory policy could be used as a tool for solving this problem. the process of financial sector globalisation, which i already mentioned, raised for many

on loan repayments by businesses and households. at the same time, credit activity not only did not stagnate, but increased. according to the latest data from the 2021 monetary statistics, loans to businesses and households grew year - on - year by 4. 1 % and 12. 5 %, respectively. good operational performance was underpinned by progress on important strategic tasks. october 2021 marked the one - year anniversary of the country ’ s accession as a full member to the european banking union. the assessment of this participation by both the ecb and the bnb is unequivocally positive. this assessment has to be seen outside the narrow context of the banking sector. first, it shows that bulgaria can be a successful and full participant in euro area institutions, given that the banking union is the first such institution in which the country has participated ; and second, it is a good example of institutional development to be followed in an environment of still serious institutional deficits. in 2021, we also marked one year since the bulgarian lev joined the eu exchange rate mechanism. this participation confirms and further proves the currency stability of the country. another important strategic aspect is the consolidation process continuing in our banking sector. this process follows global trends of seeking to streamline the structure and efficiency of the banking sector in the light of increasing competition and the pressure by new providers of 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches financial services, as well as rising costs of complying with regulatory and legal norms. in spite of the difficult and complicated environment created by the pandemic, in 2021 we saw the biggest acquisition, in terms of size and price, in the bulgarian banking sector. a deal like this i s the most accurate market evaluation of the condition of the banking sector and its attractiveness to strategic investors. therefore, the sector stayed in very good shape and so far succeeded through the pandemic. now our focus must shift onto meeting the challenges of the year 2022, keeping the strategic context, namely the process of bulgaria ’ s accession to the euro area, in which the banking sector will play a key role. in general, we expect that the macroeconomic environment in 2022 will be a little more favourable, but not less challenging. although we are at the peak of another wave of the covid crisis, we suppose that the negative health effects would subside and lessen over the year and, consequently, measures restricting the economic activity would be eased and become more flexible. such a development would