. 4 % in 2020 and 1. 4 % in 2021. compared with the march 2019 ecb staff macroeconomic projections, the outlook for real gdp growth has been revised up by 0. 1 percentage points for 2019 and has been revised down by 0. 2 percentage points for 2020 and by 0. 1 percentage points for 2021. the risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook remain tilted to the downside, on account of the prolonged presence of uncertainties, related to geopolitical factors, the rising threat of protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets. according to eurostat ’ s flash estimate, euro area annual hicp inflation was 1. 2 % in may 2019, after 1. 7 % in april, reflecting mainly lower energy and services price inflation. on the basis of current futures prices for oil, headline inflation is likely to decline over the coming months, before rising again towards the end of year. looking through the recent volatility due to temporary factors, measures of underlying inflation remain generally muted, but labour cost pressures continue to strengthen and broaden amid high levels of capacity utilisation and tightening labour markets. looking ahead, underlying inflation is expected to increase over the medium term, supported by our monetary policy measures, the ongoing economic expansion and stronger wage growth. this assessment is also broadly reflected in the june 2019 eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area, which foresee annual hicp inflation at 1. 3 % in 2019, 1. 4 % in 2020 and 1. 6 % in 2021. compared with the march 2019 ecb staff macroeconomic projections, the outlook for hicp inflation has been revised up by 0. 1 percentage points for 2019 and revised down by 0. 1 percentage points for 2020. turning to the monetary analysis, broad money ( m3 ) growth stood at 4. 7 % in april 2019, after 4. 6 % in march. sustained rates of broad money growth reflect ongoing bank credit creation for the private sector and low opportunity costs of holding m3. the narrow monetary aggregate m1 continues to be the main contributor to broad money growth on the components side. the annual growth rate of loans to non - financial corporations increased to 3. 9 % in april 2019, from 3. 6 % in march. beyond short - term volatility, the annual growth rate of loans to non - financial corporations has moderated somewhat in recent months from its peak in september 2018, reflecting the typical lagged reaction to the slowdown in economic growth observed over

framework for accounting and reporting within the escb, the annual accounts of the ecb and the allocation of monetary income of the euro area national central banks and losses of the ecb for the financial years 1999 to 2001. let me also draw your attention to some of the decisions taken by the governing council at its previous two meetings. first, the ecb budget for 2001 has been approved. it includes a staff increase of 7 %. by the end of 2001, the ecb will therefore have approximately 1, 100 staff members. second, in connection with the bank of greece ’ s entry into the eurosystem, the governing council adopted several legal instruments on the transfer of foreign reserves from the bank of greece to the ecb, the crediting to the bank of greece of a corresponding claim on the ecb and the contribution to the capital, reserves and provisions of the ecb by the bank of greece. these legal acts will be published in the official journal of the european communities shortly. amendments to several other legal instruments were also adopted. third, i should like to mention that, following the very positive reaction to last year ’ s " helsinki seminar ", the ecb is organising a second seminar with high - ranking officials from the central banks of the eu accession countries. this seminar will be held tomorrow in vienna, in co - operation with the oesterreichische nationalbank, and will focus in particular on issues related to the price dynamics in accession countries, the role of the central banks in managing the accession process and the co - operation between the eurosystem and the accession countries ’ central banks. the " vienna seminar " will be followed by a press conference at 4 p. m. tomorrow. finally, i should like to inform you that the governing council has decided that its next meeting, which is scheduled for 4 january 2001, will be held by means of a teleconference. the press conference originally planned for that day has thus been cancelled. the next press conference will take place on 1 february 2001.