. furthermore, the euro has established itself as the second international reserve currency behind the us dollar, and investors trust the euro when investing in eurodenominated financial products. i would like to take this opportunity to : provide you with an insight into our current of the current economic situation ; explain how the single currency has contributed towards the management of the financial market crisis ; offer you an overview of the financial market reforms in the european union ; outline what is still to be done to guarantee the stability of the euro over the longterm horizon. assessment of the economic situation of the euro area allow me to first explain the ecb ’ s current assessment of the economic outlook from a monetary policy perspective. as regards the economic situation of the euro area, there are a bis central bankers ’ speeches number of positive signals. the economy is following an upward trajectory ( show chart ). since its trough in the second quarter of 2009, the economy has made up close to half of its recession - induced production losses. the relatively low rate of growth observed until now is in line with experiences of other economies recovering from severe financial crises. a peculiarity of the current recovery in comparison with previous upturns is the relatively low contribution to growth stemming from consumer spending. however, in this area to, there are some positive signals. as regards private households, the labour market situation is stabilising, which should boost consumers ’ purchasing power and, by extension, domestic demand. the impact of the crisis weighed more strongly on the number of hours worked than on the number of employed. that is why the rebound in economic activity is also making itself felt more in the number of hours worked than in the rate of unemployment, although the latter has been hovering around 10 %. in the near future, all available forecasts indicate that the gradual recovery of economic activity in the euro area is likely to continue. according to the most recent projections of ecb staff ( table ), the real economic growth rate is expected to stand at between 1. 3 % and 2. 1 % this year and between 0. 8 % and 2. 8 % next year. at the same time, the outlook for growth in the area of exports and domestic demand is now predicted to improve. overall, the most recent economic data confirms that the underlying momentum of economic growth in the euro area is favourable. however, as regards economic activity and the medium - term risks to price stability, the surge in oil prices is increasing cause for concern ( show chart )

ambitions would be tempered and targeted to meet the specific needs of the market. furthermore, requiring matching funds not only ensures the private sector is willing to risk its own money but also tests the potential of the technology or investment firm. several venture capital programs such as israel ’ s yozma, the new zealand venture investment fund, and brazil ’ s inovar seed fund have all developed successful matching mechanisms for private investors. in this regard, i throw out a challenge to the caribbean private sector. tamana intech park is an opportunity to get off the sidelines and into the game. bring your money, bring your technology and, like all risky ventures, you may or may not have the opportunity to reap substantial rewards. my third and final lesson is that small, open caribbean economies need to favor scale - up rather than start - up ventures. here is a thought - provoking question : would you allocate more of society ’ s resources to giving birth to more babies or to raising children well? many parents in the audience might agree that the long, complicated and often thankless job of growing a healthy, educated and moral child seems more challenging than giving birth. in the context of enterprise creation, there has been a dramatic proliferation of start - up programs around the world : start - up america, start - up chile, start - up russia and dozens of others. i believe this sends two flawed messages. the first is that the most difficult task of the entrepreneur is to launch the venture. the second is that the more start - ups, the more successful the program. since small size is the major constraint to economic growth in the caribbean, there is a compelling argument for policymakers to stop treating the quantity of start - ups as an indicator of success and to start looking at the quality of those start - ups that grow and eventually scale - up. one high - potential venture which grows to 100 people in five years does create the same number of jobs as 50 bottom - of - the - pyramid ventures which stagnate at 2 people. but many experts argue that the high - potential venture has a much greater economic impact than the small - scale venture. contrary to popular opinion, high - potential is not always synonymous with high - tech. and it is not the surest path to competitiveness and prosperity. in fact, caribbean economies may get more development “ bang for the buck ” by supporting “ low tech ” sectors such as food processing and forestry than by trying to develop a