90 and 80 basis points respectively, reaching historical lows in april 2016. the growth rate of bank credit to euro area corporations turned positive in 2015. at the same time, other sources of external finance – the net issuance of debt securities and shares by non - financial corporations – have benefited from more favourable capital market conditions, improving corporate profits and increasing retained earnings. the easing is especially felt by small and medium - sized companies ( smes ), which are heavily reliant on bank credit. in our recent survey on the access to finance of enterprises in the euro area, smes continued to report a further improvement in their access to credit and an increased willingness of banks to provide credit at lower interest rates. new bank credit to companies is increasingly being used to finance investment projects. bis central bankers ’ speeches further monetary policy stimulus is in the pipeline. we started our corporate bond purchases earlier this month as part of our asset purchase programme. the programme has started smoothly, with ample purchase volumes. since the start of 2016, and even more evidently since the corporate bond purchase programme was announced in march, borrowing conditions for companies with direct access to the bond market have improved materially. for example, over the first half of 2016 the cost of market - based debt for euro area nonfinancial corporations has declined by around 75 basis points. we expect more firms, including mid - sized companies, to be able to access this source of external finance over the near future as the market for companies ’ debt expands and deepens. tomorrow we will start conducting the first operation of our new series of targeted longer - term refinancing operations ( tltro ii ). tltro ii will allow banks to secure long - term funding at very attractive conditions that can be as low as the deposit facility rate. this should further ease the borrowing costs of the private sector and provide an additional impulse to credit creation. overall, our measures have been instrumental in putting the recovery on a more solid footing and thereby securing the conditions for inflation to rise towards levels closer to 2 % over a not - too - distant horizon. they have underpinned the revival in the consumption of durable goods which we have observed since 2014, and are finally showing through in a more robust pick - up in non - construction investment. without our policy stimulus, both growth and inflation would be significantly lower. our march package, in particular, has mitigated the downside risks to the euro area economic outlook. additional impetus will come

. in addition to upholding past achievements, further reform efforts are needed across the euro area, as outlined in the 2015 countryspecific recommendations, which each year identify key objectives in tackling remaining vulnerabilities and rigidities. it is only through such reforms that we can avoid a build - up of new imbalances and bring growth rates back to levels that ensure prosperity and allow households and member states to grow out of their debt. improving the functioning of the labour market remains key in this respect, with a view to ensuring a rapid adaptation to shocks or structural change. this area remains an important challenge in portugal, as also mentioned in the 2015 country - specific recommendations. taking further action is all the more important, with high unemployment, according to the latest eurobarometer, being considered the main concern to the people of portugal. but we also need reforms that encourage firms to invest. investment raises both supply tomorrow and demand today. such reforms include measures that further improve the business environment. however, investment could also be helped by addressing the corporate debt overhang. for instance, increasing the efficiency of debt restructuring tools could disburden still viable companies and thereby facilitate their investment plans. the european semester, in which these country - specific recommendations have been issued, should be a good framework to push for such a new effort. however, the countryspecific reform recommendations, as just indicated by the commission, have so far hardly or not at all been acted upon by member states. stepping up the reform momentum is therefore essential. in this respect, i have noted with great interest that you will be discussing the national reform programme later today. indeed, greater ownership not only by national governments, but also by parliaments and bodies such as this one would be crucial for the european semester to gain more traction and yield better results. making economic and monetary union work in the long run these are efforts that should be undertaken by countries individually. but there is also work to be done collectively. most importantly, governments should work towards completing economic and monetary union ( emu ). emu remains an incomplete construction. and while steps have been taken to strengthen the economic governance framework and to make our financial markets safer, this incompleteness amplified the effects of policy mistakes in the run - up to the crisis and continues to leave emu fragile and its member states vulnerable to shocks. in principle, we know where the weak spots in our construction are. the five presidents ’ report provides a road map on how