the euro area, speech at the ecb and its watchers xix conference, organised by the institute for monetary and financial www. ecb. europa. eu / press / key / date / 2018 / html / ecb. sp180314 _ 1. en. html stability march 2018, 6 that is a sentence in which – since december 2016 – we had expressed our readiness to increase the monthly pace and / or extend the horizon of our net asset purchases if certain unfavourable macroeconomic or financial conditions materialized. draghi, mario ( 2018 ) introductory statement, 8 march 2018. www. ecb. europa. eu / press / pressconf / 2018 / html / ecb. is180308. en. html. praet, peter ( 2018 ), assessment of quantitative easing and challenges of policy normalization, speech at the ecb and its watchers xix conference, frankfurt am main, march www. ecb. europa. eu / press / key / date / 2018 / html / ecb. sp180314 _ 2. en. html 7 coeure, benoit ( 2018 ) making our monetary union stronger and more resilient. speech at the finanzmarktklausur of the cdu wirtschaftsrat, berlin, www. ecb. europa. eu / press / key / date / 2018 / html / ecb. sp180314 _ 4. en. html. march 8 european commission 2017, commission sets out roadmap for deepening europe ’ s economic and monetary union, 6 december 2017 europa. eu / rapid / press - release _ memo - 17 – 5006 _ en. htm 9 franks, barkbu, blavy, oman, and schoelermann ( 2018 ) economic convergence in the euro area : coming together or drifting apart? imf working paper 2018 / 10. 10 malliaropulos, dimitris ( 2018 ), real convergence in the euro area or the lack thereof, presentation at the 7th bbva seminar for public sector investors and issuers, bilbao, 26 february – 2 march 2018. www. bankofgreece. gr / bogdocumenten / real _ convergence _ in _ the _ euro _ area _ malliaropulos _ 28 _ 02 _ 2018. pdf 11 the share of total exports in gdp increased from 19. 0 % in 2009 to nearly 32 % in 2017.

speeches has started to rebalance towards tradable, export - oriented sectors. 11 t he banking system has been restructured, consolidated and recapitalized, following stringent stress tests along with in - depth asset quality reviews. greek banks are now among the best capitalized in europe. 12 the ratio of non - performing exposures to total exposures remains quite elevated ( 44. 6 % of total exposures or €100. 4 billion in september 2017 ). but banks have set operational targets to reduce the stock of non - performing exposures ( npes ) by 37 % by end - 2019. and they have accumulated provisions covering about half of their total npes, while the other half is covered by the underlying collateral. according to december 2017 provisional data, there was a substantial improvement in the pace of npe reduction in the fourth quarter of 2017 ( with the npe stock amounting to roughly €95 billion ). significant institutional reforms have been implemented, aiming at providing banks with a variety of means for reducing non - performing loans. these reforms include, among others, the authorization of credit servicing firms, operation of an electronic platform for out - of - court settlement, and electronic auctions of real estate. the progress achieved in removing the obstacles to the management of npes and, in particular, the impact on strategic defaulters ’ behaviour from the launch of e - auctions was a main factor behind the favourable picture in the fourth quarter. 4. short and medium - term outlook progress in the implementation of the adjustment programme is having a beneficial impact on confidence, liquidity and the real economy. real gdp in 2017 increased by 1. 4 % on account of the positive contribution of exports of goods and services and gross fixed capital formation. by contrast, private consumption remained flat, while public consumption contributed negatively to growth. positive developments are not only reflected in economic activity indicators, but also in soft data such as the manufacturing pmi and the economic sentiment indicator which have reached and at times surpassed previous peaks pointing to continuing economic expansion. improvements are also visible in the financial sector : bank deposits of the non - financial private sector have increased by about 10 billion euro since mid - 2016 and bank credit to nonfinancial corporations has stabilized. capital controls have been relaxed and banks ’ dependence on central bank financing has declined significantly. nevertheless, financial conditions remain tight and bank lending rates are high compared to other euro area countries. yields of greek government bonds have declined to pre - crisis levels