the main reasons for this. a major advantage in the united states is that, so far, government bond rates have remained very low ( see figure 2 ). however, it is important that these problems are resolved so that this positive trend can continue and so that interest rates do not begin rising as they have done in several countries in southern europe. there are, however, a number of bright spots with regard to the us economy. one is that the companies are making good profits. we have to go all the way back to the early 1950s to find as high a level of profits in relation to gdp as there is now. when confidence returns there is therefore every chance that investment and employment will recover. the current very high level of unemployment may then fall in the period ahead. all in all, our assessment is that growth in the united states will nevertheless be slow in the near future, but that it will be stronger than in the euro area ( see figure 8 ). in this context too, it is important to point out that this is a case of weak growth that will subsequently recover when confidence returns. global growth holding up one consequence of the financial unease and the decline in confidence is that global growth will fall this year. nevertheless, we expect it to be around 4 per cent over the next few years ( see figure 8 ). the reason for this is that global growth will be maintained by a number of economies other than the united states and those in the euro area, mainly the so - called bric countries ( brazil, russia, india and china ). these countries have acted as growth engines for the global economy in recent years and we expect this to largely continue to be the case. following this tour around the world it is time to return to sweden and to look at how we are affected by all the things i have mentioned so far. how is sweden affected? we can say that sweden is mainly affected by events abroad through three channels : through exports, through the financial markets and through the international dependence of swedish banks. subdued demand for exports as i mentioned in my introduction, sweden is a small, open economy with a high degree of foreign trade. our exports are affected by the level of demand abroad. we expect the bric countries to grow at a much faster rate than the united states and the euro area in the period ahead. one way for swedish companies to adapt to this is to try to export to the rapidlygrowing countries to a greater extent. we can see that this is

3 per cent. the proposal also includes forcing certain debt instruments with long maturities to cover losses when a bank encounters problems – by introducing what are known as bail - in bonds. in total, equity and bail - in bonds in major banks are to amount to 17 – 20 per cent. it is time to take the discussion one step further considering the characteristics of the swedish bank market, historical experiences and international developments, we at the riksbank feel that there are several areas that still require attention. the swedish system needs extra - large airbags. we consider that capital requirements for major swedish banks need to go beyond the requirements of basel iii. the costs of higher capital adequacy requirements are limited and largely private, as opposed to the true economic costs. the advantages in the form of a safer banking system are considerable. a reduced risk of financial crises is good for the real economy, good for taxpayers and also good for the banks ’ shareholders. the riksbank will soon present a report that clearly shows that the benefits of higher capital adequacy requirements exceed the costs. an increased capital adequacy requirement may also need to be matched by a tighter leverage ratio requirement. the european systemic risk board ( esrb ) has recently submitted recommendations covering lending in foreign currency. we could see the risks of this type of lending to households at close quarters in the baltic countries a few years ago. a few of the esrb ’ s recommendations are ( i ) better consumer information and credit reviews of borrowers, ( ii ) taking exchange rate risk into consideration in the national capital adequacy requirements, and ( iii ) supervision of the risks in liquidity management. swedish banks need to limit these risks better in the future. the swedish banks ’ liquidity measures need to take into account that it can be difficult to obtain certain currencies in stressed situations. basel iii ’ s short - term liquidity requirements also need to be met on a per - currency basis. furthermore, we are examining whether the riksbank ’ s reserve requirement can play a part in this regard. the low swedish risk weights are a cause for concern. historical data does not always predict the future and so we should not place too much confidence in models. a floor may be bis central bankers ’ speeches necessary to prevent the combination of low risk weights and high leverage from becoming unreasonable. most of what i have been saying here has been said by us at the riksbank for some time. we have