hat die schweiz ein langfristiges wachstumsproblem? ” neue zurcher zeitung, 31. 5. / 1. 6. 2003, p. 29. effective but also more flexible in its ability to focus its efforts beyond the primary mandate of maintaining price stability. 6. economic and monetary policy outlook let me now turn to a brief assessment of current economic conditions in the united states as well as here in switzerland and conclude with a few comments regarding the outlook for swiss monetary policy. recent u. s. economic data confirms that gdp growth has accelerated rapidly in the second half of 2003. third quarter u. s. gdp growth will be close to 6 %. for the fourth quarter, most market participants expect gdp growth to slow to a still robust 4 %. this would imply a u. s. growth rate of approximately 3. 5 % for 2003. substantial monetary and fiscal stimulus as well as strengthening financial conditions has supported the growth dynamic in the second half of 2003 in the united states. expectations of moderating growth going forward are linked to the fact that stimulus from fiscal policy is set to shrink. the contribution to consumer spending from this year ’ s tax cuts is set to decline gradually during 2004. in addition, further substantial increases in the defence budget are unlikely in the coming year, thus dampening the relative contribution to gdp from defence spending during 2004. the most worrying missing component of the u. s. recovery has been the absence of job creation which has led many market participants and media representatives to make reference to a “ jobless recovery ”, or even a “ jobloss recovery ”. with the september employment report which was released last week, we now have at least some evidence that labor markets in the u. s. are improving somewhat. provided these numbers get confirmed in the months to come, it would add weight to the hypothesis that early at cyclical turning points, official payroll numbers underestimate the actual number of jobs created. at such times, the household survey statistics might be a more accurate gauge of labour market conditions. 12 at least for now, the latest employment data has strengthened market expectations of a sustained recovery. on the business spending side, we have also seen some encouraging signs of a pick up in spending on capital equipment though it would appear that, so far, much of this demand is for replacement purposes rather than expansion. however, business inventories in the united states have fallen to low levels. rising inventories should

anita angelovska bezoska : let's get digital speech by ms anita angelovska bezhoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, at the nbrm ’ s 11th conference on payments and market infrastructures “ let's get digital ”, ohrid, 6 - 8 june 2018. * * * distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 11th edition of the conference on payments and market infrastructures hosted by the national bank of the republic of macedonia. the organization of this conference has been traditionally supported by de nederlandsche bank for which we are very thankful and over time, this initial bilateral cooperation attracted involvement of other central banks and ifis. in this context, i would like to extend our appreciation to banco de portugal for its contribution in the past editions, as well as to the bank of italy, the national bank of belgium and the national bank of serbia for their contribution to this conference. also, particularly valuable is the continued participation of the european central bank, the bank for international settlement and the european commission given the prominent role these institutions play in the payments area. this year ’ s conference focuses on digital transformation, a process that is heavily penetrating across all segments of our business and private lives and will take even greater significance in the years to come. the digital transformation in finance has been rapidly evolving with the emergence of fintech sector. according to the ernst & young ’ s fintech adoption index, one - third of consumers utilize at least two or more fintech services and they are becoming increasingly aware of fintech as a part of their daily lives. the fintech adoption index for services offered by fintech organizations under five broad categories – money transfers and payment services, financial planning tools, savings and investments, borrowing and insurance, indicates that money transfers and payment services are continuing to lead the fintech change, with adoption standing at 50 % in 2017 and 88 % of consumers anticipating of doing so in the future. thus, the global payments industry is currently undergoing a paradigm shift driven by rapid advances, the influx of new technologies and evolving consumer behavior as digital generations come of age. the emerging fintech enhances the transformative power of digital payments via innovation. the irruption of digital payments relates to its many opportunities. embracing payments digitalization has the potential to substantially reduce the costs, increase the efficiency and enable broader access to payment services. with the rise of new payment digital technologies developed by