willem f duisenberg : the ecb ’ s assessment of current economic and monetary developments and prospects for the euro area introductory statement delivered by dr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, at the testimony before the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the european parliament, brussels, on 28 may 2001. * * * it is a pleasure for me again to appear before your committee to report to you on recent decisions by the governing council in the area of monetary policy as well as within its other fields of competence. i shall start with the ecb's assessment of current economic and monetary developments, as well as the prospects for the euro area, and explain our recent monetary policy decisions. i shall then turn to the preparations for the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins. finally, i should like to address the role of central banks in the field of banking supervision. i should like to indicate already at this stage that my opening remarks may slightly exceed the usual time frame. 1. economic and monetary developments since my last appearance before this committee on 5 march 2001, the governing council of the ecb decided to reduce its key interest rates by 25 basis points on 10 may. i would like to explain the reasons for the decision. over the last few months, the governing council has gradually changed its view on the balance of risks to price stability in the euro area, moving from a situation where the risks basically remained on the upside towards a far more balanced situation. starting with the first pillar, we have been witnessing a downward trend in the dynamics of both money and credit growth in the second half of 2000 and early 2001, partly reflecting the increase of 225 basis points in key ecb interest rates, which occurred between november 1999 and october 2000. the three - month average of the annual growth rates of m3 was 4. 8 % in the period from january to march 2001. in addition, some slowdown in credit aggregates had also been visible over the past few months, and m1 continued to grow at a very low pace. moreover, there is now evidence that the monetary growth figures are distorted upwards by non - euro area residents'purchases of negotiable paper included in m3. the vice - president of the ecb already informed this committee on 2 may, in his presentation of the ecb's annual report, that the ecb was working on identifying these distortions precisely and on making the necessary corrections to the data. some of these distortions have recently been

sharon donnery : risks and resilience in uncertain times address by ms sharon donnery, deputy governor of the central bank of ireland, to the institute of international and european affairs, dublin, 8 march 2019. * * * good afternoon, it is a pleasure to address the institute of international and european affairs. the ebbs and flows of a country ’ s economic and financial fortunes are not always predictable. 1 in ireland, even less so. while, sometimes, there are patterns or regularities for such events – they are not always a perfect indicator of what ’ s to come. uncertainty always accompanies predictions. when seamus heaney died in 2013, the economist magazine published an obituary remembering him, with the by - line ‘ a shy soul ’. they noted that “ during his years studying to be a schoolteacher in the 1960s, he used the pen - name “ incertus ”, meaning “ uncertain ”. …. yet there is little that is hesitant in his poems. ” there are plenty who may think there ’ s no poetry in economics, but economics, like any field, can learn from the greats in others. 2 a central theme of my remarks today is uncertainty. ireland today faces considerable uncertainty. put simply, the irish macrofinancial environment could change significantly over the short and medium term. the uk leaving the eu is not the only risk. the international economic environment has deteriorated, yet the domestic economy is currently robust. so, we find ourselves in the interesting position of assessing a potential slowdown in the external international environment, the uk departing the eu, while also worrying about potential overheating from a domestic perspective. plotting a course through such an environment, with the potential for a wide range of future outcomes, is indeed challenging. while we can state with certainty that we have greatly expanded and strengthened our toolkit to deal with various risks, it is important that we maintain a sense of humility about what we can forecast and, more to the point, what we can control. yet like heaney, despite the uncertainty we face – we cannot be shy, hesitant or complacent in our words, not least in our actions and policies. today, i would like to discuss the economic outlook, both for ireland and critically, the international environment. then, i will elaborate on some of the risks that ireland faces. i will finish by giving some thoughts on what policy can do when facing these very different risks. the economic environment