to the top of the international league table. in 2018, the effective tax rate in this country was, on average, 29 %. to put that into proportion, france ’ s rate will be around 25 % going forward, and the us rate will be even slightly lower than that thanks to immediate depreciation of investments. a case can be made for slightly above - average tax rates in germany, since germany also provides better - than - average framework conditions, such as infrastructure or the skills its workforce possesses. but if the difference between germany and other similarly high - performing economies becomes too great, our attractiveness as a business location will suffer. the scientific advisory board at the federal ministry of finance therefore recommends that improvements be made to the tax conditions for investment in germany. 15 such conceivable improvements might include funding for research or a return to the declining - balance method of depreciation this would benefit all firms investing in germany. the solidarity surcharge also weighs on firms. transfers to the east german states will expire this year, which would actually make it advisable to do away with this surcharge altogether. 16 this will naturally lead to tax shortfalls, and, as is always the case, has to be weighed against other fiscal policy objectives. yet a competitive, growth - friendly and employment - friendly tax system is also an important goal. provided there is a will to undertake a fundamental reform of corporate taxation, a european approach would be helpful, in my view. eu - wide rules for the tax base have the potential to make taxation in the internal market more transparent and efficient. the european commission has already presented proposals to this effect, and germany and france have expressly thrown their weight behind this initiative. 4. monetary policy ladies and gentlemen, as you see, there are various levers with which the long - term outlook for growth can be improved. they all have one thing in common, though : they are in the hands of policymakers and beyond the reach of central banks. it is up to economic policy to strengthen potential growth. this would also ease the pressure on monetary policy. for stronger potential growth correlates with a higher level of the natural real interest rate and – with given inflation expectations – a correspondingly higher nominal interest rate level. an increase in the gap between the nominal interest rate and its lower bound will widen the scope for conventional interest rate policy. this reduces the likelihood – all else being equal – of monetary policymakers having to resort to

there yet. hence, our discussion today on transition plans focused on climate. and transition plans are crucial in getting from lofty targets to credible implementation. in that way, they are somewhat similar to ndcs : nationally determined contributions. an ndc is a government's way to outline concrete measures to meet its stated climate policy objectives – and a transition plan is a company's way to outline its measures to meet its climate goals. in some ways, they face similar problems : what should such a plan entail? how detailed should it be? what objectives should it serve? and who reviews it and judges its appropriateness? 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches we could provide regulatory or market - based incentives for companies to follow through. one could hope for the market to do that, trusting financial institutions to only finance those companies that are on a path that is in line with their stated climate goals. or one could imagine a world in which regulatory and supervisory pressure aims to ensure that a transition plan is followed by action. the outcome will probably be somewhere in the middle. whatever the outcome may be, the ngfs is leading ground - breaking work on this issue and we will make an important contribution to finding that landing zone. 6 conclusion ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude. our discussions today showed that we still have a long journey ahead of us. yet they also demonstrated, how far we have already come and that our network is able to navigate through uncharted territory. and all of you also left no doubt : no matter the length of the journey, we have more than enough left in our tank. i said at the beginning, that all of the input we received today may have seemed impressive, but also a bit overwhelming. but most importantly, i hope that you leave here today inspired and motivated. we have heard and discussed many ideas, let us now return home and put them into action – and let us continue to collaborate and to share the experience we gather in our network. but before i let you go, please give a big round of applause to the team behind the scenes. dear ravi, you and your team not only had the idea for this workshop, you also executed the plan to perfection. a big thanks to you and your team – and, of course, to jean and the secretariat, who gave invaluable support. thank you very much! 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches