donors. the nbu has only one legal option to help the government directly with “ ready - to - use cash. ” it is to transfer the nbu ’ s profits to the budget, which has already been done. in april, the nbu transferred a total uah 42. 7 billion of its 2019 profits in one batch, which is uah 2 billion more than was planned when the state budget was being drafted. this way, the nbu ensured that the state would receive almost half of the budget revenues planned for april. i am often asked whether the nbu is too optimistic we are cautiously optimistic about our future, but let ’ s be real : uncertainty is now higher than ever. our macroeconomic projections assume that the quarantine will end as soon as q2, and that it will not be reintroduced. but what if we are wrong? what if the world gets hit by a second wave of the pandemic? what if we have to return to quarantine restrictions over and over again? no one in the world can give straight answers to these questions. therefore, we at the nbu are prepared to respond quickly and effectively to new challenges. the regulator is monitoring the situation, assessing risks, and checking the feasibility of its forecasts. the nbu ’ s toolkit has been and will be [UNK] even under a continued quarantine. i mean the key policy rate, financial support to the economy through banks, massive international reserves, banking sector regulatory instruments. moreover, today any person in ukraine can address the nbu with a request to protect their rights if they have been violated by a bank. in the near future, we will have even more options to ensure financial stability after the nbu has stepped in as a regulator of nonbank financial institutions on 1 july. price and financial stability in the country are crucial for a healthy economy today and will remain so tomorrow and the day after. therefore, the nbu has done its utmost and will put in every effort to preserve financial stability. however, this is our common responsibility. the financial system is not operating on an economic island. the more favorable the economic environment, the more institutionally strong the country, the more protected the rights of creditors and investors, the more the financial system can be the engine of economic growth. the question everyone here has to ask himself or herself is not where to get the money from. instead ask yourself how fast we can make the reforms. at the end of the day

. in order to improve the chances of achieving the lisbon objectives, the coherence and consistency of structural reform policies need to be improved, as does the process of delivery. success of the reform agenda is essential if europe is to generate more growth and more employment in an environment of increasing global competition, population ageing and enlargement. in keeping with the principle of subsidiarity in the eu, it is the responsibility of each country to take the structural reform measures to improve its economic performance. however, it is clear at the half - way stage of the ten year period for the lisbon agenda that, across europe in general, progress has been very poor. with the new eu commission, steps are being taken to relaunch the agenda, and this is now underway. it seems likely that this will involve a more focused approach with a clearer statement of where responsibilities lie for making progress. ireland and the lisbon agenda while, as i have indicated, progress with the lisbon agenda has been very poor across europe as a whole, particularly in the larger continental countries, ireland ’ s record has been relatively good. it may be useful to consider in broad terms some of the major structural reform issues in the lisbon agenda, and to briefly assess how ireland has performed. promoting the knowledge economy the objective in relation to the knowledge economy is to adopt policies that promote research and development and the application of information technology and innovation generally with a view to improving productivity and growth. while there is a role for direct participation by government agencies in research and development activities, it can arguably best facilitate private r & d activities by creating the appropriate framework conditions for such activities. in particular, the strengthening of academic - industry links and ensuring adequate intellectual property rights are important. most governments, including our own, are conscious of the need to distinguish between inputs and outputs in this regard. a careful evaluation of the effectiveness of schemes is necessary. foreign investment inflows can be an important and efficient channel for disseminating new technologies, and ireland has benefited significantly from this. it is also necessary to ensure that an adequate skilled workforce is available both to conduct research work and to apply the new technologies. in particular, an adequate supply of scientists and engineers is of fundamental importance. on most counts, ireland has done well in this broad area. the data show, however, that private r & d activities are conducted on a fairly modest scale here, and would need to be stepped up. ensuring more competition in recent years, more competition has