significantly more pronounced over the last years, romania reporting one of the highest values in the eu, while emigration is endemic. furthermore, emigration also affects highskilled professions, such as those in the healthcare sector. thus, pressures emerge that contribute to increasing tensions on macroeconomic equilibria and contain potential gdp growth. in order to mitigate risks to financial stability, the report highlights a number of possible measures to ( i ) reduce the risk of public debt refinancing, also with the help of measures to further extend the maturity of debt instruments, ( ii ) align the structural deficit with the medium - term objective, ( iii ) enhance debtors ’ capacity to withstand adverse developments, ( iv ) ensure the better targeting of the “ first home “ programme from a social perspective, ( v ) recapitalise the companies with net worth below the required threshold and review the market entry and exit conditions for firms, ( vi ) improve employment, lower the labour underutilisation rate, also in what concerns regional disparities, and ( vii ) increase the legislative framework predictability. the national bank of romania monitors closely the evolution of risks to financial stability and seeks to mitigate the risk of household overindebtedness through the macroprudential policies it has adopted or prepares to adopt. moreover, the nbr considers that debtors would be better protected in the medium run if they requested, to a larger extent, to enter fixed interest rate credit agreements. additionally, within the national committee for macroprudential oversight, the nbr has underlined the financial stability risks deriving from soft budget constraints in the economy. in order to strengthen the economy ’ s resilience to external shocks, particularly those related to credit risk, it is necessary to have in place a prudent and balanced mix of economic policies that should pursue the return to the medium - term objective ( structural deficit narrowing ) and the improvement of payment discipline economy - wide. charts figure 1. public debt figure 2. romania : average residual maturity of public debt percent of gdp years 5. 8 8. 0 8. 1 5. 7 5. 8 5. 8 3. 5 3. 5 jul. 17 7. 2 7. 8 6. 2 5. 3 4. 0 4. 1 4. 4 3. 8 3. 0 3. 0 2. 4 1. 6 1. 7 source : ameco eu ea gr it pt be cy es fr uk at hr si

further in 2021, to 19. 6 percent in december from 19. 0 percent in november, also backed by government programs, with their share in total thus widening to 72. 4 percent. nowadays, as many other eu member states, romania is preoccupied by the geopolitical and energy situation and their considerable impact on inflation. inflationary shocks on the energy components of the consumption basket hit repeatedly throughout second half of 2021. these were partly offset by a government support scheme, in effect from november 2021. nevertheless, the energy component still accounted for more than half of the overall annual inflation rate by the end of 2021. it is a fact now that approximately 85 percent of the cpi has root in the energy price surge. therefore, the inflation expectations on the 1 - year horizon have risen sharply, reflecting current developments. the positioning of the 2 - year ahead expectations close to the target variation band suggests that the anchoring mechanism is still in place. however, specific measure to address energy situation is a need. uncertainties continue to stem from the evolution of the pandemic as well, given the current wave, triggered by the more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus although the variant seems to be less virulent. this implies a lower and abating severity of related restrictions, including in many european countries. as always, nbr will continue to use all policy tools to control inflation and to be supportive of the recovery of economic activity. by doing the work on our side, with a “ balancing act ” we also hope to support improvements in firms ’ sentiment with positive effects on longer term economic development. with these in mind, i would like to invite our honored guests and audience to have a fruitful 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches discussion. i hope that we will be able to see each other in person at next year ’ s edition. as for now, i trust that this virtual environment proves to be an adequate opportunity for promoting productive debates and exchanges of ideas. please allow me to invite vice - president thomsen to take the floor. thank you for your attention. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches