this decline in the unemployment rate overstates the degree of improvement. other metrics of labor market conditions, such as the hiring, job - openings, job - finding rate, quits rate and the vacancy - to - unemployment ratio, collectively indicate a much more modest improvement in labor market conditions compared to that suggested by the decline in the unemployment rate. in particular, it is still hard for those who are unemployed to find jobs. currently, there are three unemployed workers per job opening, as opposed to an average of two during the period from 2003 to 2007. with respect to the second metric – confidence that the economic recovery is strong enough to generate sustained labor market improvement – i don ’ t think we have yet passed that test. the economy has not picked up forward momentum and a 2 percent growth rate – even if sustained – might not be sufficient to generate further improvement in labor market conditions. moreover, fiscal uncertainties loom very large right now as congress considers the issues of funding the government and raising the debt limit ceiling. assuming no change in my assessment of the efficacy and costs associated with the purchase program, i ’ d like to see economic news that makes me more confident that we will see continued improvement in the labor market. then i would feel comfortable that the time had come to cut the pace of asset purchases. a few other points with respect to monetary policy are worth emphasizing following last week ’ s fomc meeting. first, as i have noted in earlier remarks, a decision to reduce the rate of asset purchases is not a tightening of monetary policy. if we are purchasing additional securities we are simply adding accommodation at a slower pace. second, any decision to cut the pace of asset purchases should not be taken as signaling an early exit from this period of unusually low short - term rates. we have established a threshold of 6. 5 percent for the unemployment rate as long as we do not expect inflation to exceed federal open market committee statement, september 18, 2013. federal open market committee statement, september 18, 2013. the 8. 1 percent unemployment rate refers to the august 2012 unemployment rate that was the latest information available to the committee at its september 2012 meeting. bis central bankers ’ speeches 2½ percent at a one - to - two year horizon and inflation expectations remain well - anchored. it is likely to take a considerable amount of time to reach the 6. 5 percent unemployment rate threshold. moreover, because the 6. 5 percent unemployment rate is a threshold, and not a trigger

the outlook for the non - commodity exporters remains bright, with growth rates of more than 6 percent in countries such as cote d ’ ivoire, ethiopia, kenya, and senegal. the other development that altered many people ’ s view of africa, were the political and security - related improvements. while africa is, unfortunately, still the continent where most conflicts take place, the absolute number of conflicts in africa has declined over the past 25 years. many of the wars of the 1990s have ended, and despite some ongoing and intensifying conflicts in north africa and the middle east, overall africa nowadays seems to be more peaceful than in the early 1990s. moreover, since the start of this millennium democratic governance has improved and institutional reforms have taken place in many countries, be it from a low level. at the same time, business environments have taken a turn for the better. while the starting point was perhaps less than auspicious, it is very encouraging to see that african countries as benin and senegal nowadays often appear among the global top 10 reformers in the world bank ’ s “ ease of doing business ” indicators. due to these promising developments, africa has become a region that boasts strong business opportunities, both for african entrepreneurs and for foreign ones. also dutch firms are increasingly aware of these opportunities. for instance, nowadays more than 2, 000 dutch firms are doing business in africa, ranging from smaller – mainly trade - oriented – companies to major dutch companies such as heineken, unilever and philips. africa is also increasingly important for dutch exports and imports. among the 20 most important emerging countries to which dutch exports are destined, 9 are situated in africa, with togo, ghana and senegal even in the top 5. and, according to statistics netherlands, about 70 percent of our imported roses come from africa, where, by the way, also dutch rose growers are active. certainly, africa works for dutch entrepreneurs! the second reason why i am delighted to be here is the theme of the conference : innovation in finance. in my view, this is a very well - chosen topic. new technologies are changing our lives and our industries. also finance is undergoing a rapid transformation, most visibly in the field of payment transfers, but also in lending, insurance and, importantly, remittances. the advent of smart phones, for instance, has led to the development of new mobile wallets, which makes it easy to “ send money home ” : goodbye long unsafe travels, hello smart phones