. with a balance sheet like this, some may think that we can afford to lean back in contentment and settle, from now on, for “ business as usual ”. given the forward - looking nature of monetary policy, however, and the degree of uncertainty surrounding the functioning of the economy and our ability to forecast future developments, a central banker ’ s job can never be considered done and it will never become “ business as usual ”. moreover, the ecb has further objectives to attain and tasks to perform in a rapidly changing economic and financial environment, not least because of the forthcoming enlargement of the european union. last thursday, the governing council decided to leave the ecb ’ s key interest rates unchanged. our judgement on the appropriateness of the current monetary policy stance is based on, among other things, the expectation of a gradual economic recovery in the euro area during the second half of the year, in an environment of improving activity in the world economy as a whole. this expectation is supported by new data releases, several forward - looking indicators including confidence surveys, recently published forecasts from official and private sources, as well as developments in financial markets. even though inflation may not fall over the coming months as quickly and by as much as had been previously anticipated, the medium - term outlook for price stability remains favourable. the past appreciation of the euro should continue to dampen import prices and it is presumed that wage increases will be moderate. finally, the strong monetary expansion, which we have been observing for quite a while, is not considered a factor adversely affecting this outlook, for the time being. the mild recovery underway in the second half of 2003 is expected to gain momentum over the next two years. the pace of economic activity, however, is likely to increase only gradually. consequently, average annual real gdp growth is projected to approach its potential level in 2005, while unemployment is not expected to fall next year. in the short run, the risks to growth appear to be limited and balanced. in the longer run, the balance of risks is more difficult to assess : they depend, firstly, on the sustainability of global growth, which may be undermined by external and fiscal imbalances in some parts of the world and, secondly, on the ability of the euro area economy to generate faster growth internally. in my view, the main lever for achieving higher growth in europe over the medium and longer run should be reforms on the supply - side of the euro area economy. eliminating constraints

as a proxy for retail sales, and the consumption of inputs such as electricity, gas and fuel as a proxy for activity levels. chart 8 high - frequency labour market indicators : hiring rate and job postings sources : linkedin, indeed and ecb calculations. notes : the methodology behind the high - frequency indicators on new hires and job postings is documented in the box entitled “ high - frequency data developments in the euro area labour market ”, economic bulletin, issue 5, ecb, 2020. the latest observation is for february 2021. survey - based information has proven especially useful during the pandemic. in addition to the wellestablished financial surveys carried out by the ecb ( such as the bank lending survey and the survey on the access to finance of enterprises ), the qualitative information collected in the regular corporate telephone survey and the rich information contained in the pilot consumer expectations survey have been important in policy - making. addressing the measurement challenges many of the indicators that we monitor at the ecb are provided by the national statistical institutes and the european statistical system ( ess ). the excellent cooperation between the ess and the european system of central banks ( escb ) during this challenging period has therefore been particularly valuable. this cooperation includes the joint work on methodological clarifications and data in the fields of national accounts and consumer prices and the development a joint eurostat - ecb reporting template for government interventions and support measures. similarly, the ess recovery dashboard established by destatis, eurostat and the ess has proven highly useful, both as a communication tool and as a basis for methodological improvements. this initiative also showcases the potential of statistical systems to be agile and innovative, including through the incorporation of non - traditional data sources. while the measurement challenges that i have laid out are widely recognised and have triggered a number of data initiatives at european and global levels, let me share my wish list for further improvements from a user perspective. first, at a general level, we could benefit from a more agile statistical system. this pertains to the capability to respond quickly to crises and, more generally, to keep pace with the rapidly evolving global activities of mnes and financial intermediaries. the use and development of experimental statistics could make an important contribution to boosting agility. work on variables related to labour market slack, public support measures and business demographics would deserve to be made a particularly high priority. second, at a more structural level, a concentric system