already announced expansionary fiscal policy measures and the government support for the banking sector. taken together, the additional measures decided so far put a considerable burden on public finances in a large number of euro area countries. if not reversed in due time, this will negatively affect in particular the younger and future generations. it is therefore essential to return to a credible commitment to medium - term budgetary objectives as soon as possible. the significant fiscal loosening and the implied increase in government debt should in any case not risk undermining public confidence in the sustainability of public finances, thereby detracting from the effectiveness of a fiscal stimulus. turning to structural policies, the ongoing period of weak economic activity and high uncertainty about the economic outlook imply the need to strengthen the resilience and flexibility of the euro area economy. product market reforms should foster competition and speed up effective restructuring. labour market reforms should help to facilitate appropriate wage - setting, as well as labour mobility across sectors and regions. the current situation should therefore be seen as a catalyst to foster the implementation of necessary domestic reforms in line with the principle of an open market economy with free competition. we are now at your disposal for questions.

08 / 09 / 2017 interest rate benchmarks | speeches | rba speech interest rate benchmarks guy debelle [ * ] deputy governor finsia signature event : the regulators sydney – 8 september 2017 today i am going to talk again about interest rate benchmarks, as recently there have been some important developments internationally and in australia. [ 1 ] these benchmarks are at the heart of the plumbing of the financial system. they are widely referenced in financial contracts. corporate borrowing rates are often priced as a spread to an interest rate benchmark. many derivative contracts are based on them, as are most asset - backed securities. in light of the issues around the london inter - bank offered rate ( libor ) and other benchmarks that have arisen over the past decade, there has been an ongoing global reform effort to improve the functioning of interest rate benchmarks. i will focus on the recent announcement by the uk financial conduct authority ( fca ) on the future of libor, and the implications of this for australian financial markets. i will then summarise the current state of play in australia, particularly for the major interest rate benchmark, the bank bill swap rate ( bbsw ). our aim is to ensure that bbsw remains a robust benchmark for the long term. i will also discuss the important role for ‘ risk - free ’ interest rates as an alternative to credit - based benchmarks such as bbsw and libor. the future of libor and the implications for australia libor is the key interest rate benchmark for several major currencies, including the us dollar and british pound. just over a month ago, andrew bailey, who heads the fca which regulates libor, raised some serious questions about the sustainability of libor. [ 2 ] the key problem he identified is that there are not enough transactions in the short - term wholesale funding market for banks to anchor the benchmark. the banks that make the submissions used to calculate libor are uncomfortable about continuing to do this, as they have to rely mainly on their ‘ expert judgment ’ in determining where libor should be rather than on actual transactions. to prevent libor from abruptly ceasing to exist, the fca has received assurances from the current banks on the libor panel that they will continue to submit their estimates to sustain libor until the end of 2021. but http : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2017 / sp - dg - 2017 - 09 -