Speech of Prime Minister Rama at the discussion table of the government and the Bank of Albania with leaders and representatives of the domestic banking system:

Dear Mr. Governor,

Dear bank executives and representatives of financial institutions!

I am very grateful for this invitation, and I would be totally happy if I didn’t notice here the absence of an important presence, the courts Presidents. Because I believe that if there is a meaningful example of how a corrupt justice can hinder the economy and economic development, such an example is provided to us by the arbitrary behavior of corrupt courts and judges in relation to the execution of collaterals.

We’ve been dealing with a lot of concern since the first day the issue of bad loans as a meaningful expression of an economy undergoing a crisis, but above all of a very chaotic financial situation. Restoring fiscal discipline was the number one necessity, in order to reduce first of all the perception of risk for the Albanian economy, and in more practical terms to create more space for funds administered by you to be directed towards the private sector. This fact has benefited from an increased funding by external sources of domestic debt.

We are very proud because we have set a standard of ethics in the relations between the government and individuals or companies under contract with the government, by paying off arrears for works or services performed by the private sector, which remained unpaid and passed on to s a mountain of debts which was a serious threat to further economic progress.

The radical operation that we have launched against fiscal evasion and informality in order to create optimal conditions for entrepreneurship that are started up and grow within the legal framework, as well as to stimulate at maximum competition in the market with tools provided for by law, serves the same purpose. The same purpose was served by the previous operation for putting back on track the energy sector, and in particular the company for the distribution of electricity. But now we are at a crucial stage where we need a significant increase in lending, and where we realistically consider as a strategically very important moment for the near future of our economy freeing banks from the clutches of corruption of the justice system.

In fact, I believe that the plan proposed by the governor, and discussed and agreed on with the government in this regard will yield the first results, which are not enough though. Because, I will repeat this tirelessly until the end of my speech, and I apologize for being boring, this has a limit, and again the final breakthrough of the justice channel to enable banks to execute collateral is the opening of a totally different perspective for lending, in my view.

The realization of objectives to improve the financial situation gives us more courage to look at the near future see with much more ambition. Today, the financial situation has been tremendously improved compared with the first moment of the battle to put some order in the financial records. In addition to what I mentioned, the reform of the pension system, the incentives for entrepreneurship in some sectors that we consider strategic from tourism to agriculture, to outsourced manufacturing, a significant acceleration in terms of both quantity and quality of the legalization process, and the territorial reform that will bring a significant reduction of costs for business by creating new space for development, go towards the common goal of expanding the “lungs” of our economy.

We know that the banking activity is profitable, but it is mainly based on a relationship of trust, and the termination of this relationship, which in its most is the work of corrupt judges of this country, has huge costs, maybe more than anywhere else. If the cost of a corrupt court decision on an individual is terrible for the individual, decisions of corrupt courts in this regard have a terrible cost for the whole society, a terrible cost for all communities, a terrible cost for the national economy, in addition to creating a dramatic segmentation of the whole process of financial intermediation, by increasing additional cost, besides the huge cost that banks may feel less if lending is curbed, but the economy and society will feel it much more.

You have repeated this rightly, and we did what we could. We will do much more because the conditions for this have been created, in order to enhance the quality of the rule of law. In the same direction is headed also the plan of actions of state institutions, which I mentioned earlier, starting from a long and courageous initiative of the governor to improve the legal and regulatory framework for the management of non-performing loans.

Soon, we will send to the Parliament the law on bankruptcy, will prepare some changes in the code of civil procedure and the law for the registration of real estate, will specify certain definitions in the law for insurance burdens, and on. In this process we must interact with you, we need the contribution of each of you based on whether the bitter experiences with which you are fighting, or the successful experiences of countries in the region or other European countries. The aim is to give to the settlement process of obligation between the borrower, the debtor and the bank more predictability and more consistency, doing our best to come closer to international standards.

I assure you that the government will follow the same willingness that now everyone knows, even those who accept and those who do not accept this process, like every other processes in which we have been engaged with not a little success.

Finally, we are convinced that these and other reforms would support a faster economic growth in the country, but we are absolutely sure that if you solve this knot, which I would call without fear a Gordian knot, made between banks and a corrupt justice system, nothing will prevent us from aspiring to a much higher economic growth than the one envisaged. This year, no matter what one or another says, I believe we have every reason to expect economic growth according to forecasts. The first quarter was significant and encouraging in this respect, with 2.88% growth which gives us a reasonable basis to expect consistent results in the next quarters. But, I repeat that 2.8%, 2.9, 3% or similar figures are not enough for our economy, they are not enough for the ambitions, but also for the potential we have. Our ambition and more potential are for more, we are convinced of this, given the conditions and possibilities of our country. And we see the potential of your participation in this growth process as a potential that has not been used yet as it should.

Of course, the situation cannot be compared to two years ago. Back then we had approximately 0%, but the needs of our economy, of our country are not such as to enable us to smile pleased with the current figures.

By expressing all our solidarity on the still unsolved issue, the open issue that you have with the justice system, and by ensuring you that we are very determined to make a justice reform that for the first time in over 20 years will go beyond papers, will go beyond beautifully written and approved laws, with the purpose to insert the knife into the marrow of the corrupt and rotten body of our justice. Be assured that we will do this with a will of iron and with the absolute conviction that without this we will deprive Albania, deprive the economy, deprive society of extraordinary opportunities, which are all here and are all in our hands. But our hand, the hand of all those who contribute from their positions in the Albanian economy is impeded, it is captured from the clutches of a corrupt justice. This is the most screaming example of what it means for the economy to function in a country where justice does not.

Therefore, we will follow with a lot of interest all of your comments, suggestions, and contributions. I am convinced that we will succeed together in reducing much more bad loans, in addition to finally drawing the line of impossibility to all those who are used to take money from banks and then block the execution of their collateral to banks, paying judges with money taken from bank. I believe that it is clear to you that judges obstructing you are paid with the money you give, it is part of the loans, so you lend also the judges through those do not give account for their responsibilities. This is one more reason for you to be relatively angry, because totally angry bankers do not exist.

When a nation is at the peak of his anger, the only ones who have always half a smile on their faces are bankers, because you benefit from both development and underdevelopment. You have made your choice. I do not begrudge you. We accept as you are.

Thank you very much!

We are ready to continue communication in order to resolve this issue!