the start - up of the ssm, in 2014. as you will recall, no spanish bank had to submit a capitalisation plan at the end of the year, even under the worst scenario considered. that is to say, under a hypothetical highly adverse macroeconomic scenario, all the participating spanish banks evidenced solvency levels above the thresholds demanded by the european central bank and the european banking authority, the two institutions responsible for conducting the test. the latest available figures, for december 2014, confirm that the spanish banking sector as a whole is operating with solvency levels that comfortably exceed the minimum regulatory levels required. indeed, the top - quality common equity tier 1 ( cet1 ) ratio stands at 11. 8 % for the sector as a whole, well above the minimum regulatory level of 4. 5 %. the total capital ratio was 13. 6 %, also above the regulatory level of 8 %. the far - reaching transformation of the banking system and the enhanced position of spanish banks will enable them to meet the foreseeable increase in the demand for credit as our economy picks up. outlook for the spanish economy to conclude, i wish to refer to our economic outlook within monetary union. on the information available for the first quarter of the year, spanish gdp is expected to have increased at a quarter - on - quarter rate of 0. 8 %, making for a year - on - year rate of 2. 5 %, above the forecasts at the start of the year. this improved growth should be viewed as part of the overall picture for the euro area, which saw growth of 0. 9 % in 2014 compared with 0. 4 % in 2013. both in the spanish economy and in the euro area as a whole, this improvement in growth is being driven by consumption, the contribution of exports and the improvement in gross capital formation due, above all, to the pick - up in construction, although the decline in oil prices and the depreciation of the euro are also playing their part. allow me to focus on two key elements here : employment and the change of tempo in the construction sector. the employment figures confirm this recovery in activity. in march, 1. 4 million contracts were registered, 18. 5 % more than in march 2014, with significant growth in permanent and, in particular, in full - time contracts. yet despite the historically positive figures in terms of the decline in the number of unemployed ( over the past 12 months, registered unemployment saw the biggest year - on

the onset of the crisis. as a result, romania had large twin deficits at the start of the crisis, specifically a sizeable structural fiscal gap ( around – 8 % of gdp in 2008 ) and a current account deficit in the double - digit area ( between 2006 and 2008 ). after the crisis hit, romania had no other choice but to undertake the necessary adjustments in order to eliminate these imbalances in an orderly manner. the efforts seem to have already paid off – the year 2013 marked a turnaround in romania ’ s economic development : economic growth of 3. 5 % driven mostly by robust export and industrial output on the supply side ; a small current account deficit ; historically low inflation ; while the fiscal deficit was kept well below 3 %. and i have every reason to believe that romania will see further growth in the years to come. and that, unlike in the pre - crisis period, this time sustainability will be the name of the game, as hopefully we all have learned our lessons from our previous mistakes. as they say, no one really learns but from his own mistakes … bis central bankers ’ speeches talking about sustainable economic growth, one needs to put things into perspective in order to ascertain whether the economy is on the right track. this means that short - term policies must be harmonised with the long - term vision and goals. euro adoption could serve as such a long - term goal. and romania has chosen to use it as an anchor. let me say a few words about this subject. in the post - crisis period, all non - euro area eu countries in central and eastern europe with floating exchange rate regimes ( czech republic, hungary, poland and romania ), as well as bulgaria, shifted to a wait - and - see approach as regards euro adoption, even though, in some of them, maastricht criteria were already fulfilled or within reach. nobody disputes that in the long term it is in the best interest of our countries to adopt euro, as it heightens the degree of business cycle correlation and market integration. however, the benefits of euro adoption are not unconditional ; therefore it is essential to make sure that nominal convergence criteria are achieved on a sustainable basis. also it is important to attain a certain degree of per capita income convergence before switching to the euro ( a large convergence gap may complicate business cycle management in the absence of independent monetary policy ). additionally, it is important to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new institutional setup in preventing