on and thank you each and every one of you, for inspiring in your own way and for being a role model. closing remarks 26. it is critical for us to diversify our workforce, especially since it has been shown over and over again that the best performing organisations are those who tap on all of their employees ’ talents, both men and women alike. in fact, according to another mckinsey report, gender - diverse companies are 15 % more likely to outperform their non - diverse counterparts. 2 27. we must do more in our own capacity to promote and encourage talent development in the financial sector, being an inspiration in our own way. not simply for the benefit of employers, but to allow every individual an equal opportunity to pursue their goals and dreams, and strive for their best. for the modern woman, and indeed all of us present here, there is no reason why we cannot have it all. 28. i look forward to listening to everyone ’ s views during the panel discussion later. thank you. mckinsey research, “ diversity matters ”. released in february 2015. bis central bankers ’ speeches

large future contingent liabilities via unfunded pension system liabilities. while the commonwealth has a variety of options for managing these liabilities, they are nonetheless obligations that are relevant in assessing the commonwealth ’ s overall balance sheet. it seems likely that any country in a similar debt situation to puerto rico would have faced difficulty in continuing to raise money in the bond market and would have faced questions about the sustainability of its debt level. debt sustainability is generally defined as a condition where government debt is at a reasonable level – one with acceptable risks to market confidence and long - term economic growth – and is not on a path to increase indefinitely relative to some measure of national income. stabilizing puerto rico ’ s debt as a share of the island ’ s income and then reducing its debt to more sustainable levels should be a key goal of the island ’ s fiscal and economic policy. while the precise path toward lower debt burden is uncertain, the trend is largely determined by the interaction of three factors : the government ’ s fiscal policy, the growth rate of the economy and the interest rate on the public debt. regarding the buildup of new public debt, the commonwealth government has stated its intention that the general fund budget will be balanced in fiscal year 2015. this intention, together with the stance of not using deficit financing to support public corporations, should greatly limit the issuance of new debt. the measures put in place during this year have already had some success in cutting the projected budget gap for the current fiscal year. but what other steps can be taken to move the island toward fiscal health? let me start by saying that puerto rico is not alone in facing fiscal problems like these. governments frequently find that public sector management becomes especially challenging when their economies are undergoing major transitions of the sort that have been taking place in puerto rico in the last decade. in the mainland u. s., cities like new york, washington and philadelphia experienced major fiscal stresses as they adjusted to the transition from manufacturing to service - based economies. those cities faced market pressures not unlike those facing the commonwealth today, and when their leadership tackled the issues headon, the cities emerged stronger. the problems that these cities faced required the government and the private sector to work together to find solutions. in all cases that required important changes and sacrifices. this was most effective when the necessary adjustments were shared broadly rather than concentrated on a single group. in the spirit of assisting the commonwealth in this endeavor, i want to preview how these issues appear to me, and