economies has been dampened in the wake of the financial crisis. since the recession, emerging - market economies have accounted for two - thirds of global economic growth – up from just one - third at the turn of the millennium. emerging market economies also account for one - half of the growth in global imports. compare this with the united states where the economy is now well below its pre - crisis path and is likely to remain so even once the economy recovers its cyclical losses2 ( chart 4 ). clearly, exporters need to refocus their efforts to the fast - growing economies. m. carney, “ exporting in a post - crisis world ” ( speech to the greater kitchener - waterloo chamber of commerce, waterloo, ontario, 2 april 2012 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches current outlook : where we are today the global economy continues to face significant challenges. in the major advanced economies, especially the united states and europe, deleveraging by households and financial institutions and fiscal consolidation continue to weigh on growth. in the united states, the protracted dislocation of the housing market has been a drag on the recovery, despite some recent improvement. the debt crisis in the euro area, which intensified late last year, triggered a recession there and has had negative spillovers to many other countries, including the united states. in emerging market economies such as china, growth is moderating from the rapid pace of recent years, as exports to europe have fallen off and domestic demand has also cooled. however, economic growth is expected to gain momentum over 2013 – 14, as exports to advanced economies recover. despite these challenges, the profile for global economic growth has improved since the beginning of this year. 3 in particular, economic conditions in the united states have improved, with employment gains and better consumer and business confidence. the euro area, however, is still in recession, and is projected to show only a modest recovery later this year, although the risks around this projection are high. overall, global economic growth is now projected to moderate in 2012 to 3. 2 per cent and to recover to 3. 4 per cent in 2013 and 3. 8 per cent in 2014. here in canada, economic momentum is slightly firmer than a few months ago. since canada ’ s economic growth has also turned out stronger than expected in recent quarters, we estimate that there is now less slack in the canadian economy than previously anticipated ( chart 5 ). the discussion in this section is based on the bank of

, but ultimately paid for by the merchant. the close link between interchange and merchant costs means that there continues to be significant focus on interchange and its implications for the distribution of costs between merchants and consumers. for example, there have been recent recommendations from the black economy taskforce and the productivity commission for the reserve bank to consider regulatory action to lower, or even ban, interchange fees. the payments system board will again examine the arguments for lower interchange fees when it next conducts a formal review of the card payments system. on the competition front, one area that merits close attention is the market for acquiring services. this has come into sharper focus as a result of concerns about the costs to merchants in the debit card system, where most cards allow for transactions to be processed by either of the two networks enabled on the card. the longstanding view of the payments system 12 / 14 bis central bankers'speeches board has been that merchants should at least have the choice of sending the debit payment through the lower cost system, whether that be eftpos or the international scheme. for merchants to be able to do this though, acquirers need to offer terminals and technical systems enabled to allow least - cost routing. some acquirers have already completed the necessary work and are attracting new merchants. others, including the major banks, made commitments earlier in the year regarding the timetable for this work to be completed. partly on the basis of those commitments, the payments system board made a decision not to regulate. since then, i regret to say there has been slippage by some, who have cited technical problems. it is important that the banks get back on track here. a failure to deliver on commitments or to provide the payment services that the community needs will inevitably lead to calls for further regulation. 4. looking ahead looking beyond interchange and acquiring competition, new technologies open up the prospect of new payment options developing. recently, there has been much discussion on the role that so - called ‘ big tech ’ firms might eventually play. these firms have potential advantages over existing providers of payments services. in some cases, their technology and systems are more flexible, they have a greater ability to use and process information, they have well established networks which they can leverage and they are often better at interacting with their users and customers. given this, one scenario is that these firms become significant players in the payments industry. they might be able to do this through developing new payment applications that provide a commercial return, not through charging for payment