. i would start by pointing out that, in the extremely complex post - crisis economic and financial environment, the mission of a central bank cannot be simple. there are so many transformations going on right now, after the global crisis not only invalidated certain elements of mainstream economics, but also changed the order of priorities on policymakers ’ agenda. still, i do not believe the crisis has shattered the consensus on what central banks should be pursuing – central banking has always been about the preservation of, to quote charles goodhart, “ the three aspects of stability ”, namely price stability, ( external ) currency stability and financial stability. nor has the crisis brought about the sudden realisation that these aspects of stability do in fact condition each other – central bankers, maybe even more so emerging - market central bankers, have long been keenly aware that failure to ensure one kind of stability is bound to jeopardise the achievement of the others. what the crisis has indeed challenged is the widespread conviction that meeting one particular stability criterion, bis central bankers ’ speeches while necessary in order to achieve the others, is also a sufficient condition to do so – after all, maintaining price stability, while valuable in itself, has proved insufficient to ward off major financial or macroeconomic instability. as a matter of fact, andrew crockett claimed ever since 2003 that the “ peace dividend ” yielded by the successful war against inflation had not lived up to expectations and therefore the battlefront against financial instability should not be overlooked. nevertheless, it is widely accepted that price stability should remain the overriding objective of a central bank and i do not see this approach changing in the future, at least in europe. it is expected, however, that central banks will make more explicit their concern for all the “ three aspects of stability ” in their policy decisions, realising that price stability and financial stability are much more intertwined than we used to think. i believe this development has farther - reaching consequences when it comes to the future of central banking. i can easily imagine, some years down the road, a more “ normal ” world in which unconventional monetary policy tools are a thing of the past, since their relevance is ultimately circumstantial, but i cannot imagine a future where the explicit concern for financial stability and the macroprudential policy are not central banking fixtures. to be frank, the nbr has never had the luxury of being concerned exclusively with price stability and interest rate setting in the belief that financial stability and exchange rate

mugur isarescu : regional economic outlook - europe opening speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, at the conference " regional economic outlook - europe ", bucharest, 17 november 2017. * * * your excellences, ambassadors, members of the diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the national bank of romania. the board and i are honored to host the presentation of an important imf document, one of their flagship reports, namely “ 2017 regional economic outlook report ”. it is a tradition for the national bank of romania to host this event and we are pleased to greet the presence of many foreign diplomats – this is a clear testimony of its importance. allow me to extend a warm welcome to mr. jeffrey franks, who has been a long - standing friend of romania. mr. franks is a veteran of the fund, who – over the last 25 years – has managed challenging assignments, including the resident offices in ukraine and ecuador, and has led teams in pakistan, romania, france, belgium, and paraguay. he was the imf mission chief for romania for almost 3 years, from 2009 till 2012. as many of you may remember, during his mandate as mission chief, romania overcame a very difficult period, with the support of the imf, wb and ec. i would also like to welcome mr. emil stavrev, deputy division chief, and mr. mariusz jarmuzek, senior economist, both of them from the imf european department, who have contributed extensively to the report under debate today. now, returning to the main topic : the national bank of romania has always valued the regional economic outlook report as it gave us a full and unbiased image of where we stand as compared to our peer countries. it has helped us to better understand the macroeconomic developments in our region and the interconnectedness / connections between our economies. the current report marks a turning point in our post - crisis economic history : we should take advantage of the improved economic context to focus on structural reforms needed to accelerate the real convergence and to raise romania ’ s economic capacity in the long run. we need to preserve competitiveness and enhance the quality of public expenditure. we are all glad to see the global economy back on track and the european recovery strengthening. these results are even more encouraging, if we think back to 2010, in the aftermath of the crisis, when economists and policymakers started