. this is also required in order to allow automatic stabilisers to work without exceeding the 3 % deficit ceiling in less prosperous times. e. communication policy of the eurosystem coming now to the last part of my statement, i should like to touch briefly upon some decisions related to the ecb ’ s communication policy that have been taken recently. as you might be aware, the ecb published, on 5 january 1999, a consolidated opening financial statement of the eurosystem, and subsequently, on 12 january, the first weekly financial statement, containing the assets and liabilities held by the ecb and the national central banks of the euro area vis - a - vis third parties. with a view to providing regular information, in particular on monetary policy operations and changes in foreign reserves, the ecb will continue to publish a weekly financial statement every tuesday, accompanied by an explanatory note, in all official eu languages. as already indicated, the ecb will release the first edition of its monthly bulletin tomorrow. it will contain an assessment of the current economic situation underlying the ecb ’ s monetary – 6 – policy decisions and also tables and charts covering a wide range of statistics relevant to monetary policy. in addition, the ecb will continue to release current monetary statistics on wire services. i should like to conclude by emphasising that these publications, together with the regular press conferences following the meetings of the governing council of the ecb and the numerous speeches given by the members of the executive board, demonstrate the importance which we attach to explaining the ecb ’ s monetary policy in a clear and transparent manner. * * *

by historical standards and that real interest rates are also significantly below their long - term averages. the real long - term interest rate is currently at a level of about 3 %, which is approximately 1 percentage point below the level prevailing at the end of 1997. increases in consumer prices, as measured by 12 - monthchanges in the hicp, have been around 1 % since autumn 1998, falling to 0. 9 % in november. the rate of increase in service prices has remained unchanged at around 2 %, but increases in goods prices are much lower, at 0. 3 %, reflecting downward influences on both food and industrial consumer goods prices. energy prices have also continued to contribute to moderate price developments, falling by 4. 3 % in the 12 months to november. in addition, modest developments in unit labour costs are a further key factor underpinning the current low rate of consumer price increases. the preliminary data released by eurostat for the third quarter of 1998 showed euro areawide real gdp growth at 2. 4 %, thus reflecting some deceleration compared with the first half of the year, when output growth averaged 3 %. growth has increasingly been driven by domestic demand rather than net exports in the course of 1998. private consumption, in particular, has been robust, supported by growth in employment. however, unemployment in the euro area remains very high ( at 13. 8 million ) and is declining only gradually. in the short term, output growth is expected to slow somewhat as a consequence of a weaker global environment. in addition to the lower real gdp growth figure in the third quarter, further evidence of an economic slowdown has been provided by survey data, most notably on order books and industrial confidence, which have weakened significantly since the spring of 1998. industrial production growth also slowed during the course of last year. by contrast, consumer confidence was quite resilient, providing some support to domestic demand. there is considerable uncertainty about the impact of external developments on the euro area, not least because of recent events in brasil, but the slowdown is currently expected to be temporary. the current low levels of short and long - term interest rates in the euro area should contribute to sustained confidence and domestic demand. overall, the governing council felt that the risks to price stability appear to be balanced. however, there is a potential downside risk to the global situation, which could lead to lower inflation via a more pronounced growth slowdown in the euro area and weaker import and – 5 – producer prices