. in order to measure the phenomenon on a global scale, it should be noted that the labour force available for participating in globalised markets has probably doubled from 1. 5 billion to 3 billion with the openingup of china, india, many formerly centrally planned economies and several other emerging countries. although labour mobility is still limited worldwide, the increased flexibility of capital flows implies that firms now have much easier access to global labour supply than before. as a result, many industries have set up supply chains on a global scale. let me now provide you with some figures to document the magnitude and scope of globalisation. global trade openness – measured as world exports and imports of goods and services as a share of world gdp – has practically doubled over the last 20 years, from 33. 9 % of world gdp in 1986 to 60 % of world gdp in 2006. an increasingly decisive factor has been the increase in trade in intermediate goods and services as a result of the rising internationalisation of production processes. financial systems have also been deeply affected. as investors ’ incentives to hold foreign assets in their portfolios and the possibilities to diversify and spread financial risks globally have grown, this has affected all facets of financial systems, be it markets, infrastructures or institutions. let me briefly illustrate some impressive developments. the share of gross international asset holdings in world gdp – which provides a measure of financial openness – has shown an eightfold increase over the last 25 years and now stands at more than 130 % of world gdp. as far as global capital flows are concerned, it is noteworthy that their composition has changed significantly over recent years. while fdi and international equity flows were dominant in the late 1990s, international transactions in mainly liquid assets have risen in recent years, making up most of the increase in global capital movements. international risk - sharing and the transfer of net savings across countries are important features of this process. emerging market economies are gaining a larger share of global gdp. aggregated data show that they posted net private capital flows of usd 650 billion in 2006 compared with usd 458 billion in 2005. net direct investments remained globally unchanged over this period, with net inflows of usd 267 billion in 2006. portfolio investments, on the other hand, which include the public sector, recorded higher outflows in 2006 of usd 379 billion, compared with usd 258 billion in 2005, while portfolio investments to emerging market economies decreased slightly. on the whole, emerging market economies have most recently been providing the rest of

european central bank : press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank and mr lucas papademos, vice - president of the european central bank, athens, 8 may 2008. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to today ’ s press conference here in athens. i would like to thank governor garganas for his kind hospitality and to express our special gratitude to his staff for the excellent organisation of the meeting of the governing council. let me report on the outcome of our meeting, which was also attended by commissioner almunia. on the basis of our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided at today ’ s meeting to leave the key ecb interest rates unchanged. inflation rates have risen significantly since the autumn, owing mainly to increases in energy and food prices. as we have said on previous occasions, inflation rates are expected to remain high for a rather protracted period of time, before gradually declining again. the latest information confirms our assessment that upside risks to price stability prevail over the medium term, in a context of continuing very vigorous money and credit growth. at the same time, the economic fundamentals of the euro area are sound, and incoming macroeconomic data continue to point to moderate but ongoing real gdp growth. however, the level of uncertainty resulting from the turmoil in financial markets remains unusually high and tensions still persist. against this background, we emphasise that maintaining price stability in the medium term is our primary objective in accordance with our mandate. the firm anchoring of medium to longer - term inflation expectations is of the highest priority. the governing council remains strongly committed to preventing second - round effects and the materialisation of upside risks to price stability over the medium term. we believe that the current monetary policy stance will contribute to achieving our objective. we will continue to monitor very closely all developments over the coming weeks. allow me to explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. the latest data and survey information on economic activity confirm previous expectations of moderate but ongoing growth in the first half of 2008. in particular, industrial production data for the first months of the year showed resilience, while economic sentiment generally continued to soften. overall, the euro area economy has sound fundamentals and does not suffer from major imbalances. in line with available forecasts, both domestic and foreign demand are expected to support ongoing real gdp growth in the euro