addressing romanians who are studying or have studied in the west, i cannot help but make the parallel with the revolutionaries of 1848, who engineered the rapid transformation of the romanian society and created the modern state almost from scratch. of course, that does not mean you are expected to build a new romanian state as they did, but you can certainly act as a similar vector of change in the romanian society, be it in social values, politics, economy or culture. therefore, no pressure … now, some of you must surely be wondering what a central banker like me and it have in common. i could hardly be described as an it expert, but i am following developments in the sector, not only because they matter in the global economy ( explaining a good deal of the productivity wedge between the us and eu starting in the mid - nineties, for instance ), but also because the it & c sector is increasingly relevant for the romanian economy – its share in gdp is now nearing that of construction and its contribution has become instrumental in building a surplus on the 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches international trade in services. solid technical skills, good command of foreign languages and certain versatility are assets that continue to attract investment in this sector in romania. although infrastructure quality, in general, is not a strongpoint for romania, communication infrastructure is – we are enjoying some of the best speed for broadband internet connection in the eu if not in the world, not to mention that access is comparatively much cheaper. the evolution of the it sector is part of a wider process of sectoral shifts in the domestic economy, visible across several emerging markets : the services sector gaining ground to the detriment of agriculture and industry, whose roles have been diminishing. likewise, industry has also shown structural shifts, i. e. the lower share of energy and labour - intensive sectors in favour of increasingly technology - intensive industries. with the risk of touching on a delicate topic these days, given the location of this conference, i have to mention that eu membership has played a major role in romania ’ s development. and i am not saying that only because i was the head of the government that started the eu accession talks back in 2000. across the years, there were a lot of discussions with regard to romania ’ s readiness for eu accession. even romano prodi, the head of the european commission at the time, warned me on several occasions that we were not ready for accession, not only from an economic and social point

about future developments, and growing debt service due to higher interest rates, ( ii ) the close link between the banking sector and the government sector, and ( iii ) the polarization of credit institutions by size. the slowdown in lending, which started in the second semester of 2022, was also due to the rise in financing costs amid the tightening of both monetary policy stance and 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches credit standards. in the second quarter of 2022, banks tightened credit standards for loans to non - financial corporations and to households, and were expected to continue to do so in the third quarter of 2022. the prolonged energy crisis, the heightened geopolitical tensions and the mounting uncertainty about the economic outlook prompted banks to reassess the level of risk. in respect with challenges raised by climate change and energy efficiency, as of may 2022, the nbr started collecting information on green loans from banks. the data shows that, between may and september 2022, companies took out green loans totalling 976 million lei ( 0. 56 percent of the corporate loan portfolio ). the composition of these green loans was dominated by credit for green buildings ( 42 percent ), followed by loans for electricity and heating and cooling systems ( 24 percent ) and those for energy efficiency ( 13 percent ). last but not least, a word on economic growth. for 2022, the annual real gdp growth is estimated to reach about 5 percent, which is lower than the one recorded in 2021. for the past year, growth was driven by the substantial advance during the first part of last year. in 2023 domestic economic activity is projected to lose significant momentum, due to certain substantial adverse influences, as previously mentioned. a favourable contribution to economic growth is expected to come, particularly over the medium term, from european funds, including the next generation eu programme. with these in mind, i now invite vice - president pavlova to take the floor. afterwards, i wish you all fruitful discussions, stemming from the eib investment survey findings. thank you. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches