proposal for a corporate sustainability reporting directive comes in. the ecb welcomed this proposed directive in a legal opinion and it is now awaiting approval by the co - legislators. the current standards on sustainability disclosure are insufficient to ensure that sustainabilityrelated financial risks are properly understood and priced by market participants. the proposed corporate sustainability reporting directive is a necessary step to address the gaps that currently hinder the development of appropriate sustainability policy, risk assessment and risk monitoring frameworks for the financial sector. this is because it will not only explicitly ask large banks to disclose their transition plans, it will also ask banks ’ corporate clients to do the same. this last point is crucial, as it will enable banks to assess the climate - related and environmental risks in their asset portfolios. these disclosures are therefore an important element in ensuring that banks manage all material risks, in line with what we as the prudential supervisor expect them to do. the climate - and - environmental puzzle is still highly complicated, but we can now see the pieces slotting into place. against this backdrop, it is crucial that the elements included in the commission ’ s proposals are implemented in actual binding legislation entering into force without 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches undue delay. this will smooth the path to paris for all. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

success of the vaccination campaigns in europe, which have allowed a significant reopening of the economy. with the lifting of restrictions, the services sector is benefiting from people returning to shops and restaurants and from the rebound in travel and tourism. manufacturing is performing strongly, even though production continues to be held back by shortages of materials and equipment. the spread of the delta variant has so far not required lockdown measures to be reimposed. but it could slow the recovery in global trade and the full reopening of the economy. consumer spending is increasing, although consumers remain somewhat cautious in the light of the pandemic developments. the labour market is also improving rapidly, which holds out the prospect of higher incomes and greater spending. unemployment is declining and the number of people in job retention schemes has fallen by about 28 million from the peak last year. the 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches recovery in domestic and global demand is further boosting optimism among firms, which is supporting business investment. at the same time, there remains some way to go before the damage to the economy caused by the pandemic is overcome. there are still more than two million fewer people employed than before the pandemic, especially among the younger and lower skilled. the number of workers in job retention schemes also remains substantial. to support the recovery, ambitious, targeted and coordinated fiscal policy should continue to complement monetary policy. in particular, the next generation eu programme will help ensure a stronger and uniform recovery across euro area countries. it will also accelerate the green and digital transitions, support structural reforms and lift long - term growth. we expect the economy to rebound firmly over the medium term. our new staff projections foresee annual real gdp growth at 5. 0 per cent in 2021, 4. 6 per cent in 2022 and 2. 1 per cent in 2023. compared with our june staff projections, the outlook has improved for 2021 and is broadly unchanged for 2022 and 2023. inflation inflation increased to 3. 0 per cent in august. we expect inflation to rise further this autumn but to decline next year. this temporary upswing in inflation mainly reflects the strong increase in oil prices since around the middle of last year, the reversal of the temporary vat reduction in germany, delayed summer sales in 2020 and cost pressures that stem from temporary shortages of materials and equipment. in the course of 2022 these factors should ease or will fall out of the year - on - year inflation calculation. underlying