policy tightening in 1994, rising interest rates have little detrimental effect on the financial health of the corporate sector when the rate increases occur in the context of an expanding economy. indeed, corporate credit quality improved on balance after 1994 with the pickup in economic activity and corporate profits. some of the improvement in financial conditions among businesses is due to significant belt - tightening by many firms. over the past few years, the drive to cut costs and boost efficiency has generated rapid productivity gains. fuller utilization of the capabilities of capital already in place, ongoing improvements in inventory management, and streamlined production processes requiring fewer workers, to name but a few examples of efficiency enhancements, have boosted corporate profitability. the pickup in revenue growth since mid - 2002, combined with outsized productivity gains, has produced a dramatic recovery in overall corporate profitability. the profits of nonfinancial corporations as a share of sector output continued to climb and reached almost 12 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, up from its cyclical trough of 7 percent in 2001. this share lies well above its long - run average over the past few decades. to be sure, the profit share likely will slip a bit from its high level as the expansion gains steam and businesses hire new workers more aggressively. but some decline in the profit share is to be expected and will not, in my view, significantly impair the financial health of companies. this favorable view is reflected in risk spreads on corporate bonds and credit default swaps, which have dropped dramatically from their historic highs in the fall of 2002. household financial conditions in the household sector, some analysts have expressed concern about the rapid growth in household debt in recent years and the decline in the household saving rate. they fear that households have become overextended and will need to rein in their spending to keep their debt burdens under control. my view is considerably more sanguine. although pockets of financial stress exist among households, the sector as a whole appears to be in good shape. it is true that households have taken on quite a bit of debt over the past several years. according to the latest available data, total household debt grew at an annual rate of about 10 percent between 1999 and 2004 ; in comparison, after - tax household income increased at a rate of about 5 percent over this period. this rapid growth in household debt largely reflects a surge in mortgage borrowing, which has been fueled by historically low mortgage interest rates, strong growth in house prices, and an increasing share of households owning their

for protection against crises. in this domain, emphasis is placed on developing a broader base of financial stability indicators, which we prepare on a regular basis. in fact, in the post - crisis period, this recommendation led to a dramatically increased number of central banks that prepare these indicators. also, in the context of financial systems and markets, a focus was placed on detailed data on securities, in order to obtain a better analytical infrastructure to detect the risks of individual exposures and cross - sectoral spillover. the national bank started such activities in 2014 when it created foreign investment securities statistics, which was then supplemented with data on domestic securities. in addition, the crisis has shown that the risks can increase largely not only in the banking system, but also in shadow banking. therefore, there is a need for upgrading the statistics with data not only for depository institutions, but also for all other financial institutions. following these trends in 2012, we started with the preparation of the statistics of the most important non - bank financial institutions, which enabled us to 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches constantly monitor their activities and the potential risks. we recently fully complied this statistics with the latest imf ’ s guide on monetary and financial statistics. the second segment is the improvement of databases on cross - border financial systems. the consequences of the global crisis have clearly emphasized the risk of international financial integration, in particular the global connection of systemically important institutions. such a context has had major consequences on the requirements for increasing the volume and structure of statistical data that will give a better picture of these global connections with a special emphasis on international investment position statistics, as well as more detailed portfolio investment and direct investment statistics. the national bank already prepares all these surveys on a regular basis, although there is room for further improvement in the area of international position. the third segment is better detection of economy sensitivity to shocks, which is achieved by establishing sector accounts, and in their frames financial accounts, which will disclose the links between all sectors in an economy, and therefore, the possibilities for shock spillover from one sector to another. in 2017, for the first time, the national bank prepared financial accounts for all sectors of the economy, which were submitted to eurostat in an experimental format. the fourth segment is the improvement of the statistical communication process. in this context, on a regular basis, we are making efforts to improve communication with the public, also by conducting surveys for the satisfaction of the reporters and users, creating the possibility for