gent sejko : bank - business relationships : lending perspective 2016 speech by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, at the discussion forum on " bank - business relationships : lending perspective 2016 " between representatives of the business community and the banking sector, tirana, 3 march 2016. * * * dear representatives of business community in albania, dear banking system executives, dear participants, it is a great pleasure to open the discussions in this meeting between representatives of the business community and the banking sector. i have always believed that the business sector is the engine driving the economy forward. it is the main contributor to employment and, hence, to fulfilling the goal to improve the citizens ’ welfare. the role of the banking sector in the economy is equally important. its mission to effectively manage the savings of the population in supporting the economic development is vital to the long - term prosperity of a country. in the post - crisis period, we are facing a situation we had never imagined before. many structural ambiguities and weaknesses surfaced along with their aggressiveness. the worsened credit portfolio was one of the most problematic developments, being highly intensive and uniform across all products. this undesirable development decelerated lending to the economy, contributing negatively to a further increase of non - performing loans ( npls ). the vicious circle continued for a long time, peaking when npls shared 25 % in total loans. notably, this problem is facing not only albania but also the global economy. emerging economies, especially the regional economies, experienced strong shocks. financial systems, currencies, consumption and investments were mostly affected. many of the business plans, compiled and implemented in the pre - crisis period, failed, driving to the increased insolvency for many large borrowers. this situation existed for 5 - 7 years, until 2015, the year i would consider as the long - expected turning point. for the first time, attributable to the coordinated efforts among all institutional stakeholders, we provided the grounds for a considerable reduction of npls. i have addressed this issue before. i would rather not repeat myself, but i would like to bring to your attention today an effort, an attempt, an initiative to analyse jointly the causes and the reasons why we are in this situation. most importantly, we should discuss and reach clear conclusions on ways to boost lending to the economy. the developments in recent years drive to the conclusion that the relationship or interaction between the two communities represented

macro - prudential supervision. the bank of albania will place fulfilling the commitments deriving from the national action plan for tackling non - performing loans at the centre of its efforts. we will firmly cooperate with other public authorities, the world bank and the international monetary fund, or the further reducing the stock of non - performing loans. as in the past, the stability of the banking system is a top priority. in this regard, the bank of albania will continue to contribute also in the framework of the financial stability committee in albania. dear representatives of business community and banking system, bis central bankers ’ speeches at the end of my speech i would like to emphasise once again that in this room we represent three groups of interest. in order to be successful, we need to help and cooperate with each other. i would like to appeal once again to you to enhance the mutual understanding and cooperation bis central bankers ’ speeches