both papers covered by the panel provide useful thoughts on the trade - off between data use and data protection. 2 data are considered the most valuable commodity of the 21st century. and, in principle, there is nothing wrong with people paying for services with their personal data. provided they know who is using which data for what purpose and they explicitly accept those uses. however, many people aren't happy about their data being used commercially. they don't want people to be tracking their consumption behaviour. and they are perfectly entitled to have their data protected. so if you were to go to a winery in eltville to buy some bottles of riesling and pay with the digital euro, only the bank that operates your wallet would have full visibility of the transaction. but it is not allowed to use that information commercially without your consent. the eurosystem will not be able to assign the transaction to you personally. and if you pay offline, no personal information whatsoever is shared with anyone else. like with cash. 3 5 conclusion ladies and gentlemen, there is still a long way to go before we can issue the digital euro. exchanging views and opinions with experts from outside the eurosystem is very important and valuable in this regard. 1 deutsche bundesbank ( 2024 ), bundesbank survey : widespread acceptance of digital euro among general public, press release, 4 june. 2 agur, i., a. ari & g. dell'ariccia ( 2023 ), bank competition and household privacy in a digital payment monopoly, imf working paper wp 23 / 121 ; tinn, k. & c. dubach ( 2024 ), ( central bank ) digital currency with asymmetric privacy - theory model, mimeo. 3 european central bank ( 2024 ), progress on the preparation phase of a digital euro - first progress report ( europa. eu ). 4 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches

benefit of all its citizens, and also to the benefit of the world economy at large. v the three large currency areas in the world – the united states, japan and the euro area – together account for almost one - half of world output. currently, growth rates are dwindling simultaneously in all three major currency areas. that has very much to do with the higher degree of global integration, still underestimated by many policy makers. global trade growth will probably slow down to only 1. 3 percent this year, after 12 percent last year. the new round of trade talks recently launched in doha is an encouraging signal in this respect. among the major regions of the world, only china, the oil - exporting countries of the middle east and russia ( including some neighboring countries ) will show growth rates of a seriously positive magnitude. there is something like a global business cycle. however, there is no perfect synchronicity among different areas. causes, consequences and repercussions differ in the three currency areas. this does call for area specific policy responses. the us business cycle is close to a recession. remember, less than a year ago, forecasters were wondering whether the usa would see a hard or a soft landing. the downward trend of the high - tech industry, and the corresponding overinvestment in it, were prominent among the causes of the downward movement of growth rates. the savings rate rose abruptly and the labor market performed ever - worse. after september 11, the additional negative psychological impact had to be overcome. risk sensitivity initially increased steeply after the terrorist attacks. we have seen a widening of corporate, especially high - yield, spreads over government bonds. the increased risk sensitivity is a major reason why monetary easing has still not made its way through the entire ( corporate ) yield curve. more recently, the spreads have receded somewhat. they are, however, still above their pre - attack level. the united states responded quickly to the worsening economic outlook. the fed lowered interest rates, the federal government substantially reduced taxes. firms and markets are adjusting quickly. i have no doubt that the us economy will show rising growth rates again within a few months. japan — no need to tell you — could not withstand the global downward trend, as the overall economic situation has not been favorable for years. the economy is still recovering from the effects of the prolonged banking crisis that followed the bubble economy of the late eighties. finally, the euro - area business cycle followed the global