that improving financial support for women would increase the number of new businesses, which in turn, would boost economic activity, enable the expansion of old businesses, leading to increased productivity and growth. financial empowerment enhances the bargaining power of women at the family level and this allows larger latitude for investment in child - nutrition, health and education, thereby regenerating the future workforce. beyond the family, financial freedom is a precursor to gender equality and consequently, the assurance of social security. women constitute not only a formidable demographic force, but are also responsible for the youth that make up the next generation. therefore, their well - being has implications not only for their own lives, but also for the society at large. their ability to play this role effectively depends on how far the society supports their development. empowering them is a crucial challenge which calls for constant review of policies, re - assessment of priorities, commitment of adequate financial resources, and effective implementation of programmes. bis central bankers ’ speeches the experience of the grameen bank of bangladesh provides evidence that women might be better fund managers. of loans made by the bank, over 98 per cent were recovered, implying a near 0 per cent default. moreover, giving women access to finance has emerged as a lucrative business for fund providers. the global banking alliance for women has seen a steady upward trend in its profits, which has also put its operations on the path to sustainability. the place of women in nigeria nigeria ’ s female population is estimated at 80. 2 million ( unfpa, 2012 ), representing 49 per cent of the total population. about 54 million of nigeria ’ s female population live in rural areas where they provide 60 – 79 per cent of the rural labour force. recent data from the 2009 nigerian education data survey showed that 1. 5 million children ( 8. 1 per cent of children aged 6 – 14 ) were not in school at the time of the survey. of this, 1. 5 million people, 53 percent were girls. while on the one hand, the survey shows a doubling of the net attendance ratio for female students between 1990 and 2010, it also indicates that most of these girls do not make the transition to secondary school. there has only been a marginal increase in the number of girls enrolling for secondary school over the 20 year period. although there is a policy of free education, the literature suggests that there are still some significant costs that deter parents and cause pupils to drop out ( lincove, 2009 ). nigeria ’

has to act carefully. but is it careful or reasonable to commit to spending €60 billion every month until the end of 2017? clarifying our intention is not only important for financial market participants but also for investors and consumers. they want to know what the financing conditions for the next 12 months will be. for us, it is crucial that financing conditions in the euro area continue to be appropriate for the economic situation. and do you see risks? political uncertainty is mounting both inside and outside of europe. of course, the ecb is not a political institution. we cannot and should not be influenced by political developments in individual euro area countries. but uncertainty may inflict economic damage at euro area level by holding back investment and consumption, which we may then take into account. outside the euro area, major changes are expected in us economic policy, with a stronger focus on fiscal policy. these 1 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches changes will reverberate across the global economy, with both positive and negative implications which are still difficult to assess. we can ’ t accept that long - term euro area interest rates would be entirely driven by us interest rates. we need a certain amount of decoupling, as the recovery in the euro area is not yet as robust as in the united states. our asset purchase programme helps ensure this. but is a further reduction in the purchase volume possible in 2017 if the situation improves? the governing council has only left open the option of an increase. might your assessment even change? our forward guidance is not a commitment to a particular course of action. it explains, at a given point in time, our expectations, our views on the economy and how we would respond to shocks. any new data will of course be taken into account. the governing council ’ s decision was appropriate given the available data. a further reduction can only be considered at a later stage depending on how inflation adjusts towards 2 %. but do you think upside risks to inflation are increasing? developments since the latest projections by ecb economists – i. e. the weaker euro and higher oil prices – are pointing to slightly higher inflation. but we need to look at precisely how that affects the economy. don ’ t forget that higher oil prices also have a negative impact on the purchasing power of companies and households. moreover, it is unclear how these developments will impact underlying price pressures, if at all. speaking personally, i don ’ t exclude upside risks to inflation in 2017 if the reflationary