flows. indeed, developments in the advanced economies arising from the bursting of the technology bubble, the unprecedented declines in the stock markets, uncertainties arising from international geopolitical tensions all had implications on this region. in the current environment, clear signs are now beginning to emerge that the recovery in the advanced economies is strengthening and that this is already positive for the region. while the pace of growth in the major industrial countries is still below their potential, it has been revised upwards to reflect improved consumption and business investment activity. most encouraging has been the indicators of business investment, particularly it investment, which has been stronger - than - expected. this has been supported by improved corporate cashflows and the low interest rates environment. in japan, signs of recovery have emerged while in the euro area, indicators of business sentiment suggest a stabilisation from the current weakness. these developments augur well for growth in the region in the second half of this year and in 2004. indeed, the positive performance of the global stock markets reflected an anticipation of stronger future growth. while these are encouraging trends for the region, we need to look beyond the prospects of the current cyclical recovery. several significant imbalances however, still remain in the global economy. an important issue that needs to be addressed is how the unbalanced growth that has taken place in the world economy can be resolved with orderly adjustments of both the economies concerned as well as of the respective financial markets. the adjustments need to take place while maintaining robust overall global growth. global growth still remains dependent on the us as an important trading partner. this is reflected in the large and persistent current account and budget deficit in the us as it continues to be the net purchaser of world output. asia and the euro area, on the other hand, continue to record large surpluses. this is also reflected in the significant build - up of dollar assets in asia as us deficits are partially financed by capital inflows from asian economies. meanwhile, the adjustments to the previous excesses in investment still continue to restrain new investment, leaving growth to be dependant on the sustainability of consumption. these global imbalances are unsustainable in the medium - term. moreover, any large and disorderly adjustments in exchange rates would have disruptive implications on growth in the region and for the overall global growth. despite the severity of the asian crisis, geopolitical uncertainties in the past few years, and most recently, the sars outbreak, asia still remains

the european commission drives the agenda forward and that the member states support it – even when things get difficult and national approaches need to be adjusted. cybersecurity geopolitical tensions have also increased the cyber threat to our society. because the criminals are now more likely to be, or be supported by, state actors. they have far more sophisticated skills. and destructive goals in mind. denmark is among the most digitised countries in the world. and with digitalisation comes increased vulnerability to cyberattacks. we can see this, for example, from the results of a survey by the european banking authority, eba. about a quarter of the european banks surveyed experienced cyberattacks in the second half of 2023 that led to a serious operational incident. the year before, it was about a tenth of the banks. recently, we have also seen a number of denial - of - service attacks against nordic banks'websites. attacks that, in strength and complexity, surpass anything we have seen before. this is a disruptive element within individual banks and for their customers. however, what really concerns me are serious cyberattacks that cause significant damage to societally critical functions and can threaten financial stability. i know you all have a sharp focus on cyber, and i am pleased to see that cyber maturity has improved over time. the centre for cyber security also stresses that the financial sector is mature when it comes to cybersecurity. at danmarks nationalbank, we are very pleased with our joint work on cyber risks in the fsor collaboration, in which a number of you sitting here today are also active participants. and many of the rest of you are represented by your data centres. this broad and close collaboration across authorities and private actors is also a source of inspiration for other countries and organisations. 3 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches but it is vital that we continuously work to increase cyber resilience. not only in terms of preventive measures to counter cyberattacks, but also in terms of measures that ensure the ability to continue critical business activities after a serious cyberattack. payments infrastructure the geopolitical situation means that we need to consider how citizens'daily payments can be maintained in situations such as during internet outages. the members of the danish payments council, including finance denmark, have therefore assumed responsibility for developing a digital payment contingency measure involving payment cards. the aim is to ensure that citizens can use their dankort and visa and