, although technology is evolving rapidly, the percentage of companies in greece offering on - the - job training for their employees is lower than in the eu15, while the participation of the population in life - long training programmes is low. these observations suggest a need for closer cooperation between the education system, firms and research centres. since many of the interventions proposed can be financed by the community support frameworks, they will not place an undue burden on public finances. conclusions the best way to minimise the negative consequences for the greek economy from the continued crisis in the international financial system, external inflationary pressures and the expected slowdown in the growth of world economic activity is to continue the efforts to improve the fundamentals of the economy. the aforementioned policies will bear fruit in terms of further raising living standards. in the last 12 years, real per capita gdp has risen by a cumulative 51 %. however, despite strong growth, 13 % of employed persons, 25 % of pensioners and 33 % of unemployed persons are still below the poverty line. moreover, in between households that have already benefited from growth and enjoy increasingly high incomes, on the one hand, and poor households, on the other hand, there is also a considerable number of households living on the verge of economic and social insecurity. while the establishment of the national fund for social cohesion is a positive step towards tackling poverty and inequality, in itself it is not enough. it is also necessary to implement policies for reducing unemployment, raising the percentage of skilled workers and facilitating labour market entry. to conclude, therefore, if living standards are to continue rising and the problems of poverty and inequality are to be tackled, it is necessary to place much greater emphasis on productivity - driven growth. demand - driven growth which is not accompanied by rising productivity has its own natural limits and cannot be expected to shelter the greek economy from the impact of a possible slowdown in world growth and a rise in world inflation. by contrast, policies to improve productivity can better insulate the economy from external shocks and lay more solid foundations for higher living standards in the future.

the current account deficit widened significantly from 2016 due to the hike in imports related to the infrastructure projects that are currently ongoing. the deficit stood at 21 % of gdp in 2017, and is expected to remain almost at the same level at 20 % in 2018. however, due to the strong increase in receipts from the tourism sector and due to the large infrastructure projects gradually wind up, the current account deficit is expected to narrow in the medium term. net outflows from foreign exchange reserves persist, but reserve levels remain stable due to short term reserve management activities and large inflows from public debt issuances. as such, gross international reserves are expected to be at us $ 728 million at the end of 2018. on account of the strong performance by the tourism and construction sectors, gdp is expected to grow at around 6 % during the year. looking at developments in the global economy, economic activity is picking up in both the advanced and emerging economies. emerging asia is expected to maintain its high growth rate at current levels in 2018. this is mainly because the impact of an acceleration in the indian economy is expected to be offset by a slight slowdown in the growth in the chinese economy in 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches 2018. the slowdown in the chinese economy, which is the largest tourism source market for us, could pose risks for us in the form of lower tourist arrivals and spending. global consumer prices are expected to pick up further in 2018, which is somewhat in contrast to the conditions here in the maldivian economy. this is because current developments in inflation in our domestic economy is being driven primarily by policy related factors. this is a time where global attention on international trade has increased, with talks of a trade war between the us and china at the forefront. being a highly import dependent country, we need to be aware and keep on top of these developments. any such event can have major implications for our competitiveness and terms of trade positions, especially with the sizable share china accounts as an inbound tourism market and import source market. from here on, i intend to talk about 3 issues that i believe are of key importance to us at this point in time. the first of these issues is fund management practices and the need to streamline the practices currently being followed. despite the small size of the maldivian economy, we currently have 3 professionally managed funds being administered. two are being managed by the maldives monetary authority, one being the official foreign exchange reserves which in a