##ergies between investments in tangible and intangible capital, and these should be fully utilized. simultaneously investing in new technologies and in digitally skilled human capital results in the largest possible increase in productivity in the long run. investments as a percentage of gdp have increased in recent years, owing to particularly strong investment activity in the three years 2021 - 2023. business investments have fully recovered to pre - 2010 levels. on the other hand, residential investment is low, but rapidly growing in response to strong demand from both domestic and foreign investors, including investors from eu countries as well as countries further afield in the context of the golden visa program. nonetheless, total investments as a percentage of gdp remain below the eu average, at 15. 2 %, compared to the eu's 22 % in 2023. 5 / 8 bis - central bankers'speeches for one, rrf funds must be received and disbursed to the private sector promptly. to date, the receipt rate of rrf funds is satisfactory ( 51 % of a total €36 billion ), and greece is among the top performers in the eu. satisfactory progress has also been made in terms of signing loan agreements. however, the disbursement of grants to the final beneficiaries is moving at a slower pace. in order to improve structural competitiveness, it is also essential to implement a broad range of ambitious reforms, aiming at addressing structural weaknesses such as delays in the delivery of justice, bureaucracy in public administration and lack of digital skills. at the same time, it is crucial to eliminate any remaining restrictive practices preventing markets from being competitive, by removing barriers to entry and opening up goods and services markets to competition. these reforms will help attract foreign direct investment, as well as facilitate the participation of greek companies in global value chains, in turn leading to the adoption of new technologies and innovative production methods that will enable greek companies to offer high - added value products and knowledge - intensive services. a healthy and competitive banking sector capable of financing businesses and households is essential. there has been a marked improvement in banking sector fundamentals over the past decade : profitability, liquidity, capital adequacy and loan portfolio quality have all improved ; new healthy and adequately capitalized banks have been created forming a fifth banking pillar, while divestment of the hellenic financial stability fund's shareholdings in the four systemic banks has been largely completed. still, the sector's resilience must be further strengthened, including through

all this, we have also seen a sizeable appreciation of the euro since 2002, particularly against the dollar, taking it back to the level prevailing at its initial launch. from that short outline, it is clear that the economic and financial environment of the past seven years has provided a stiff test of the single monetary policy. given this background, what has been the outcome? over the past seven years, the evidence indicates that both inflation and inflation expectations have remained firmly under control. since the beginning of 1999, indicators of long - term inflation expectations in the euro area have remained below but close to 2 per cent. this suggests that the single monetary policy has been successful in anchoring long - term inflation expectations and that the public and the markets are convinced about the determination to maintain price stability over the medium - term. this has been a very significant achievement in a relatively short period of time and has been an important factor in permitting euro area interest rates to remain accommodative, even after last week's interest rate rise. i would like to comment briefly on last week's move and to emphasise its consistency with the monetary policy strategy we have in place. the decision to increase interest rates was taken against the background of the risks to price stability that have been identified. the decision will help to keep medium to long - term inflation anchored at levels consistent with price stability. even after this increase, interest rates remain low and continue to lend considerable support to growth. as to the future, i would emphasise that the governing council has not taken any'ex ante'decision to engage in a series of interest rate increases. our mandate is to maintain price stability and we will continue to monitor all developments closely. we will examine the data, make our assessment and act as appropriate to deliver price stability. the institutional framework the eurosystem institutional set - up involves centralised decision - making on monetary policy issues and decentralised implementation of those decisions. i can assure you that the central bank of ireland plays an important role in both areas. one of the features of the governing council is the democratic way in which it goes about its business. in a sense one should not be surprised by this : the statute of the escb provides for each member to have one vote and specifically restricts weighted voting to financial matters. i am impressed by the manner in which these principles are observed in practice. certainly, there is no sense of governors operating in a representative capacity when addressing euro area policies. equally