ambitions would be tempered and targeted to meet the specific needs of the market. furthermore, requiring matching funds not only ensures the private sector is willing to risk its own money but also tests the potential of the technology or investment firm. several venture capital programs such as israel ’ s yozma, the new zealand venture investment fund, and brazil ’ s inovar seed fund have all developed successful matching mechanisms for private investors. in this regard, i throw out a challenge to the caribbean private sector. tamana intech park is an opportunity to get off the sidelines and into the game. bring your money, bring your technology and, like all risky ventures, you may or may not have the opportunity to reap substantial rewards. my third and final lesson is that small, open caribbean economies need to favor scale - up rather than start - up ventures. here is a thought - provoking question : would you allocate more of society ’ s resources to giving birth to more babies or to raising children well? many parents in the audience might agree that the long, complicated and often thankless job of growing a healthy, educated and moral child seems more challenging than giving birth. in the context of enterprise creation, there has been a dramatic proliferation of start - up programs around the world : start - up america, start - up chile, start - up russia and dozens of others. i believe this sends two flawed messages. the first is that the most difficult task of the entrepreneur is to launch the venture. the second is that the more start - ups, the more successful the program. since small size is the major constraint to economic growth in the caribbean, there is a compelling argument for policymakers to stop treating the quantity of start - ups as an indicator of success and to start looking at the quality of those start - ups that grow and eventually scale - up. one high - potential venture which grows to 100 people in five years does create the same number of jobs as 50 bottom - of - the - pyramid ventures which stagnate at 2 people. but many experts argue that the high - potential venture has a much greater economic impact than the small - scale venture. contrary to popular opinion, high - potential is not always synonymous with high - tech. and it is not the surest path to competitiveness and prosperity. in fact, caribbean economies may get more development “ bang for the buck ” by supporting “ low tech ” sectors such as food processing and forestry than by trying to develop a

, which drags on growth and creates a climate of uncertainty. we need to restore confidence to bring about a recovery in investment, particularly through clear announcements. the finance minister was talking recently about “ good finance ”. i would add that good finance can ’ t do anything if the fundamentals are not good. what mechanisms do we need to act on? i think that certain reforms should be made a priority in some countries to boost the potential for growth. in italy, for example, emphasis is placed on the judicial framework to ensure that relationships between creditors and debtors are safeguarded, and on the reform of the italian senate, which must improve its decision - making. equally, measures could be taken in the labour market – as happened two and a half years ago in spain, where the results can now bis central bankers ’ speeches be seen. the important thing is to honour our commitments. promised reform is all too often delayed or, sometimes not even implemented at all. so do you think that the stability pact doesn ’ t actually offer increased flexibility? the stability pact offers enough flexibility to take the short - term cost of structural reform into consideration. however, we should not go off course to such an extent that we lose credibility. unlike growth, the inflation figures are not in line with your scenarios. how do you explain this? we have had to significantly revise our inflation forecasts for 2014, trimming them from 1. 1 % to 0. 7 % since december 2013. low inflation is no longer caused purely by adjustments in certain euro area countries, and by lower energy and food prices. normally, a fall in prices would be able to support purchasing power and, therefore, domestic demand. but demand has remained weak, including in the biggest euro area economies. how does all this affect the ecb? with rates of inflation that are too low month after month, our comfort zone for reaching the target of price inflation close to 2 % over the medium term has shrunk. faced with this risk, we were obliged to act as we did in june. are the actors in the euro area already expecting inflation to be a long way from your medium - term target? medium - term expectations remain well anchored. and if you were to ask me about the probability of a deflationary scenario becoming a reality, my response would be that there is very little risk of this happening in the euro area. nonetheless, the risks of a prolonged period of low inflation have been identified by the ecb