and to deal with the underlying problems? tackling the urgent issues to tackle the urgent issues stemming from the crisis, it was first essential for the three countries that were experiencing major difficulties to be able to continue funding themselves : bis central bankers ’ speeches the eu and the ifm stepped in to assist them. they did this via bilateral loans in the beginning, and then in the framework of a structure that borrowed on the markets backed by a guarantee from the euro area member states : the european financial stability facility ( efsf ). this support was subject to strict conditionality to ensure that the sustainability of public finances was restored and the country in question regained its competitiveness. these countries therefore undertook to meet deficit reduction targets in order, ultimately, to be able to tap the markets directly for their funding needs. this support was always designed to be temporary and encourage sound fiscal policies. central banks also played a decisive role throughout the crisis. first, they cut their key interest rates sharply after the crisis of 2008 in order to guarantee price stability and boost lending and activity. furthermore, they provided financial institutions with liquidity to limit credit crunches. since 2008, the eurosystem, for example, has conducted fixed - rate tenders with full allotment against an extended range of eligible collateral. since 2010, it has run a programme to purchase government securities of countries in difficulty in order to support the market, ease pressure on interest rates and thus improve the efficiency of the transmission of its monetary policy to the real economy. in addition, cooperation between the world ’ s major central banks was stepped up, in particular for the provision of foreign currency liquidity. the rescue packages put in place for portugal and ireland are working well. ireland in particular has considerably reduced its deficit, and implemented very extensive economic structural reforms approved by a broad political and social consensus. it is ahead on the execution of the programme and has even already returned to a path of growth. in greece, unfortunately, the situation is less rosy. for several months, it has appeared that greece would not manage to meet its targets for reforms and deficit reduction. this has exacerbated market concerns. to resolve this situation, the heads of state or government of the euro area and the imf worked towards an agreement that was reached on 21 july 2011. this agreement allowed for major progress : – first, it agreed to support a new rescue programme for greece, better suited to its situation, with lower interest rates and extended maturities ; – second

and institutional changes in the educational, health and social security systems. the long expansion has been characterized by moderate inflation rates and consistently lower levels of unemployment. this is in sharp contrast to two decades ago when the growth in the economy was accompanied by double digit inflation. we have been able to manage our affairs to keep in check those domestic sources of inflation. as we go forward we need to ensure that wage settlements remain in line with productivity. one measure of productivity in the manufacturing sector for trinidad and tobago suggests that output per man hour worked grew by 3. 3 per cent for the first nine months of 2000 compared with 7. 1 per cent for the corresponding period of 1999. the strength of the country ’ s performance is also evident in the healthy state of the external accounts where the country recorded an overall balance of payments surplus in 2000 – the eighth such consecutive surplus. this has also led to a build up in the country ’ s gross foreign reserves which amounted to us $ 1, 890 million or around 5. 2 months of prospective imports. the state of play over the past seven years real gdp has grown on average at just under 4 per cent per annum and preliminary indications are that growth will continue apace during 2001. despite the slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2000, when real gdp rose marginally ( 0. 4 per cent ) the economy has rebounded in the first quarter of 2001 growing by around 1 per cent, considerably higher than the 0. 2 per cent recorded one year earlier. at that time the delay in settling the natural gas contract impacted negatively on economic activity in the energy based industries and these adverse developments continued well into the second quarter of 2000, when the natural gas contract was eventually signed. for example, the protracted negotiations led to a reduction in the volume of fertilisers exported to international customers, and also affected other sub - groups in the energy sector. for 2001 however the sector is expected to operate at or near capacity with minor stoppages. in the non energy based sectors of the economy, the 2000 performance is noteworthy in that for the first time in more than four years, every sector experienced positive growth : – agriculture rebounded from two difficult years as the output of raw sugar totalled 107 thousand tonnes. construction activity has slowed after spikes in 1997 and 1998 consequent on the installation of additional capacity in the energy based sectors, but some slowdown was expected as the major investments and public sector capital spending on infrastructure began to taper off. this