william c dudley : regional economy and manufacturing update remarks by mr william c dudley, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, at the quarterly regional economic press briefing, new york city, 22 july 2010. * * * good morning and welcome to the new york fed ’ s july 2010 regional economic press briefing. i value this opportunity to talk with the journalists covering our region – and through you, to the people in our district. my goal this morning is to share how i see regional economic conditions, with particular focus on the manufacturing sector in the second federal reserve district. my colleagues will follow me and provide more detail on the patterns that i ’ ll describe. as always, what i have to say reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the federal open market committee or the federal reserve system. i. national economic conditions to provide some context, i ’ ll begin with a few words about national economic conditions. u. s. economic activity has expanded for four consecutive quarters, but at rates that can only be described as modest when compared with early stages of past recoveries. the june payroll numbers tell the story of this sluggish recovery in employment. the economy gained only 83, 000 private - sector jobs, following a downwardly revised gain of only 33, 000 in may. growth in the third quarter may turn out to be a bit less than we saw in the first half of the year, though we think there is only a slight risk of a double dip. the road to recovery is turning out to be a bit bumpy as relatively weak consumer spending and the ongoing problems in financial markets are keeping growth far less robust than we would like. to date, the manufacturing sector has been a key source of growth during the recovery. after an unusually steep decline from late 2007 to mid - 2009, manufacturing output has grown rapidly over the past year, although the level of manufacturing output remains well below the previous peak. a major force behind the growth of manufacturing output has been an unusually pronounced inventory cycle. production has expanded as firms across a variety of industries have been rebuilding their stocks to bring them into a better balance with sales. another driver of manufacturing output over the past several quarters has been a pronounced rebound of our exports of manufactured goods. economic activity abroad has been recovering from its weak levels in 2009, and that global recovery has helped fuel demand for our products, particularly capital goods. the importance of manufacturing in the recovery makes it a timely topic for our regional economic briefing

andres sutt : emerging energy markets a€ “ key issues introductory remarks by mr andres sutt, deputy governor of eesti pank ( bank of estonia ), at the gic / mkm / eesti bank conference on emerging energy markets, tallinn, 21 august 2008. * * * mister minister, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear guests, it is a great honor to welcome you here in tallinn. the issues of our conference on emerging energy markets are of great importance in today's world. we are very lucky to have an excellent lineup of highly distinctive speakers from both the public and the private sector, so our discussions will no doubt be interesting and useful. i also have to admit that that interest in the conference exceeded the organizers'most optimistic expectations. energy issues and related policy choices have come forward forcefully and en masse for policy makers and public at large. indeed, there is hardly any other area where choices that are made today will have a direct impact on the way of life of the generations to come. in this regard, i would like to briefly outline the key issues that will be discussed also today. first and foremost, human activity and energy consumption are, in all likelihood, having a direct impact on climate and, ultimately, on living conditions on the planet earth. while the direct effects of climate change on growth and prosperity vary, it is beyond any doubt that the challenges ahead are formidable. rich countries can and will adjust more smoothly to these challenges, but it will be the poor in the developing world who are going to have to bear the heaviest burden. naturally, changes in energy production and consumption as well as in energy markets structure have a special contribution to global action for coping with climate change. second, surging energy demand worldwide makes us see the issues of energy security from a new perspective. a frantic search for energy sources by asia's emerging economies, and the increasing concentration of production in the hands of sometimes unpredictable regimes, has deep ramifications for energy security in the advanced world, including and most notably in the european union. here, a forceful united approach is called for, based on integrated and well - functioning markets and european solidarity. third, high and volatile energy prices constitute a challenge for macroeconomic management. energy price developments have pushed up inflation in the advanced world with adverse effect on private demand and growth. on the other hand, windfall due to high energy prices poses challenges to fiscal, monetary and exchange rate management in the countries exporting