is particularly helpful for firms in the private sector, especially small and medium enterprises that might otherwise not be able to manage the risks of dealing with overseas buyers. it is an important part of the kingdom ’ s economic vision 2030 that we develop a strong and thriving sme sector, especially one that can focus on export markets. more widespread use of export credit guarantees is, therefore, an instrument which has a particularly important role to play in the kingdom ’ s economic development goals. it is this background which makes the current workshop so important and timely. let me conclude by wishing you success for your discussions during the rest of this morning.

on global financial stability. nevertheless, even if large and unsustainable deficits financed by the accumulation of reserves by surplus emerging economies were not the ultimate cause of the global economic and financial crisis, it can still be argued that they provided support for the build - up of the financial excesses that led to it. in the aftermath of the crisis, global imbalances were reduced as a consequence of the financial retrenchment and the severe downturn in activity worldwide. however, a large portion of the correction is likely to have been merely cyclical. as a matter of fact, as the global recovery is taking hold, a new widening of imbalances is starting to be perceived this year and is foreseen to continue into 2011. indeed, the basic structural factors underlying global imbalances remain essentially in place ; but the crisis has brought about some potentially important changes in the nature of the imbalances. as trade and capital flows experienced a sudden stop during the crisis, the immediate impact was deeper in those economies more open to trade – which collapsed – and those with higher net external financing needs. when trade recovered, export economies tended to rebound strongly, but countries with large external deficits generally lagged behind. in many advanced economies, particularly in those running deficits, private domestic demand remains severely impaired by the adjustment process and the need for the private sector to deleverage. as a result of this process private sector saving rates have increased sharply and public sector balances have rapidly deteriorated. in the end, external deficits do not reflect anymore the large financing needs of the private sector – as they did before the crisis – but those of the public sector. high fiscal deficits and rapidly increasing debt levels in most advanced economies are both a consequence of the crisis and of the policy response to it, as governments tried to make up for the sharp collapse in private sector activity and to support their financial sectors, in a context of rapidly shrinking public revenues. given the deep concerns about public debt sustainability brought about by these developments, a key policy challenge in most advanced economies is to achieve fiscal consolidation, even at a time of expected lasting weakness in domestic demand. european economies have been acting resolutely in the pursuit of fiscal consolidation. in particular, spain is undergoing an intense adjustment process which has halved the current account deficit ( from 9, 6 % in 2007 to around 5 % this year ). the government is implementing an ambitious fiscal consolidation plan, combining some tax increases with