christine lagarde : welcome address - ecb conference on monetary policy welcome address by ms christine lagarde, president of the european central bank, at the european central bank conference on monetary policy : bridging science and practice, frankfurt am main, 4 october 2023. * * * it is my pleasure to welcome you all to the 2023 ecb conference on monetary policy. the last few years have been an incredibly challenging time for monetary policymakers around the world. we have faced a succession of overlapping supply and demand shocks that have created a complex and fast - changing macroeconomic landscape. and as a result, we have seen a paradigm shift in monetary policymaking. where central banks in advanced economies once wrestled with overcoming the lower bound on interest rates, they have more recently been engaging in the fastest hiking cycle on record. but policymaking, by nature, operates in real time. we make decisions based on the best analysis and data at hand. however, it is exactly when rapid shifts in the macroeconomic environment occur that prior, unforeseen knowledge gaps are suddenly exposed. this is why policymakers – who are practitioners at heart – can benefit greatly from cutting - edge research. fresh insights and innovative approaches can go a long way in closing those knowledge gaps, helping policymakers to navigate this new terrain more effectively. that is why this conference is called " bridging science and practice " – because the issues we are discussing are truly those that are informing our policymaking. today's event captures four such topics. the first topic is how the transition from the low inflation regime, which prevailed before the pandemic, to the high inflation rates we are seeing today affected the pass - through of shocks. the papers to be presented over the next two days provide important contributions to that important debate. in particular, we will see evidence that the propagation of adverse supply shocks is nonlinear : when inflation is high, the propagation is stronger. and we will see how firms'pricing strategies can become state - dependent and make prices more flexible in response to large shocks. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches the second topic on which the conference focuses follows naturally from the first. with such a rapid shift in the inflation outlook, there has been an equally rapid shift in the stance of monetary policy. and this has raised questions about how best to calibrate policy when accommodation must be quickly withdrawn after a long phase of loosening. we will see research that highlights some of the challenges

their activity provides financial stability. harmonization of the regulatory framework with the recent international developments in this area, more specifically in the european union, has continued to be an important priority of the cbk during this year, which caused the drafting of various regulations which advance different aspects of the banking regulation, such as : the regulation of ifrs 9 financial instruments, and the regulation on non - performing loans and restructurings. the application of regulation ifrs 9 financial instruments will result in lower reserves for credit losses at the banking sector level and will reduce the cost of preparing and auditing the banks'financial statements since banks will only report under the international financial reporting framework - ifrs. the regulation on non - performing loans and restructurings will enable the application of the same criteria for the identification of nonperforming loans and restructuring and it fully complies with the criteria applied in the eu. in recent years, the cbk has increased its engagement towards the protection of the rights of financial services consumers, thus directly serving to the protection of the public interest. such engagement, either through financial education programs or through corrective measures to financial institutions, will continue to increase during the upcoming periods. during 2018, the cbk, in addition to the advancement of internal capacities, has been very active in the field of international cooperation. as regards this, i would page 4 of 6 like to emphasize the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the european central bank, which paves the way for increased cooperation with this institution. also, ensuring an lei international code for the republic of kosovo was of a special importance. through this code, the central bank of the republic of kosovo is treated equally with other central banks in the execution of financial transactions. a more detailed disclosure of the economic and financial developments and cbk activities during 2018 can be found in the cbk annual report, which will be published in the first half of the next year. * * * before we move on to your questions, i would like to inform you that the cbk has continued even this year with the announcement of the already traditional competition for the " young economist " award, and i would like to thank and congratulate all the candidates for their papers submitted for this competition. this activity aims to stimulate research activity in the field of economy among young people. based on the evaluation of the professional commission for the evaluation of these papers, i am pleased to announce today the three winning research papers of this award, hoping that this will motiv