“Building an economic governance framework fit for the challenges ahead”, press release, 9 November 2022. 5  Caselli, F. and P. Wingender (2021). “Heterogeneous effects of fiscal rules: The Maastricht fiscal criterion and the counterfactual distribution of government deficits”. European Economic Review, 136, 103748. 5  management features. In the highly uncertain world that we live in, the proposal tries to improve the effectiveness of the MIP with a more forward-looking assessment of the existence of risks of imbalances, monitoring adverse trends in flow-related variables that could lead to the build-up of imbalances. The Commission’s proposal envisages to reduce the current inertia of the MIP by placing more weight on risk analysis and on actual policy implementation to address imbalances. The key elements of any reform of the SGP These orientations are a promising starting point for a debate that should, by the end of this year, lead to the adoption of an improved fiscal and governance framework for the EU. In particular, the Commission’s proposal reflects the consensus reached by both the theoretical and the empirical literature on how to design fiscal rules. It does this in four ways. First, it anchors debt sustainability at the centre of the debate. Second, it highlights the need to use an expenditure rule as an intermediate target, given that this is the one variable under the control of the fiscal authorities, allowing the extraordinary revenues that sometimes materialise, beyond their control, to be saved.

These developments, among others, have intensified the demand for electronic payment. As electronic payment facilitates the automation of payables and receivables, costs associated with paper and labour intensive processes, including potential errors in processing, would be sharply reduced or eliminated. Apart from lowering costs, electronic payment allows for better resource allocation, thus raising productivity and profitability of businesses. Electronic payment also improves cash flow forecasting, thereby resulting in more efficient liquidity management. Furthermore, customer service quality would also be enhanced with the provision of faster and more convenient means of payment. Businesses that respond to these opportunities and are effective in delivering their services will generate greater value for their customers and achieve competitiveness differentiation. The faster electronic payment displaces the use of cash, the less would be the need for the costly printing and supply of currency notes and coins. The same is also true for physical cheques. The strategic management of currency is an increasingly challenging task faced by most central banks. Apart from ensuring cost effective and high quality currency notes and coins, it also requires accurate forecasts of the demand for currency notes and coins, which varies seasonally and with economic activity. The higher acceptance of electronic payment not only improves the economic efficiency of a country, but also allows substantial cost savings to be gained. Studies have shown that widespread utilisation of electronic payment systems has the potential of contributing to at least 1% of a country’s GDP annually.