for the eurosystem's monetary policy. indeed, it was emphasized that some growth dispersion within monetary union is inevitable and even desirable. related to this, i am personally fully convinced that individual euro area countries can cope with asymmetric shocks that are inevitable fact of life in a monetary union. indeed, before finland joined emu, there was much skepticism about its suitability for a country whose economy, in particular its export structure, was very different from the rest of the euro area. after more than eight years in the monetary union, many of the feared asymmetric shocks have been realized ( e. g., volatile swings in the telecom sector and significant weakening of the u. s. dollar ) but the finnish economy has performed well, both in terms of growth and price stability. turning back to the case of africa, it seems that the combination of heterogeneity ( both cultural and economical ), the larger number of initial participants and the proliferation of overlapping integration initiatives implies special challenges for devising clear and credible decision - making structures to support integration process. at the same time, these initial conditions imply that such structures are indispensable for successful broadening and deepening of economic integration. against this background, the importance of strengthening domestic and supranational institutions by clarifying their decision - making and by making them more transparent and accountable was regarded as essential. conclusion finally, i would like to thank all the participants, especially our speaker and discussants. i think that we had a frank and meaningful discussion of the challenges facing both eu and africa. i think that we all benefited and learned from this discussion that has offered many different perspectives to issues of common interest. it seems to me that, notwithstanding formidable challenges and many potential pitfalls, the outlook for greater integration in the both regions is fundamentally positive. with these remarks, i like to conclude and wish my african colleagues success in their challenging road toward further economic integration in africa.

improved their profitability and capitalization, thanks to their growing net interest income. more generally, financial systems throughout the world have remained remarkably resilient in the last few years – despite being hit by the pandemic, the spike in inflation, rapid interest rate increases and the deposit runs in regional american banks. the strengthened resilience is a testament to the profound regulatory and supervisory reforms after the global financial crisis, as well as to the better readiness of policymakers to take bold, timely and exceptional policy actions in times of crisis. we expect that the systemic risks and vulnerabilities in finland´s real estate market will start to ease this year, assuming that interest rates fall and the economy starts to recover as projected. 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches as we – the bank of finland – stated in our annual financial stability assessment, published in may, we are fully aware that the deterioration in the international security environment exposes finnish and other western financial systems to shocks and widespread disruptions. for instance, there is a heightened risk that the financial market infrastructure and financial institutions could face more frequent and severe cyberattacks and hybrid interference. in response to this, finnish financial institutions have improved their continuity planning and contingency preparations. the national emergency account system established in finland two years ago, in turn, ensures that critical banking and daily payment services would be available to the public even in times of severe disruption. the short - term economic outlook for the euro area and finland is now somewhat brighter than projected just a while ago. however, our long term growth prospects look rather weak, unless we can manage to find new sources of growth. that goes for all of europe, too. as documented by ian goldin and others, the growth rate of labour productivity in the oecd economies between the 1970s and the 1990s was around 2 %. in the current century, it has fallen to 1 %. the gap between europe and the us has been widening, especially since the pandemic. the discrepancy between post - pandemic developments in productivity is, however, exaggerated if we only look at productivity per person. this is because the pandemic caused a very large adjustment in the number of people employed in the united states, while in europe, thanks to different job retention schemes, jobs were preserved – but hours worked fell abruptly. in other words, average hours worked decreased dramatically in europe, but much less in the us. consequently, productivity per person looks