and cooling housing markets in several parts of the euro area. however, the growth of loans to non - financial corporations has remained very robust. bank borrowing by euro area non - financial corporations grew at an annual rate of 14. 6 % in the year to january 2008. overall, bank loans to the domestic private sector have grown at around 11 % on an annual basis for the past two years. for the time being, there is little evidence that the financial market turbulence since early august 2007 strongly influenced the overall dynamics of broad money and credit aggregates up to january 2008. in addition, according to the available data, the turmoil has not led to substantial portfolio shifts into monetary assets, as were observed between 2001 and 2003. notwithstanding the tightening of credit standards reported in the bank lending survey for the euro area, continued strong loan growth to non - financial corporations suggests that the supply of bank credit to firms in the euro area has not been significantly impaired by the financial turmoil thus far. further data and analysis will be required in order to obtain a more complete picture of the impact of the financial market developments on banks ’ balance sheets, financing conditions and money and credit growth. to sum up, a cross - check of the outcome of the economic analysis with that of the monetary analysis fully confirms the assessment that there are upside risks to price stability over the medium term, in a context of very vigorous money and credit growth. the economic fundamentals of the euro area are sound. incoming macroeconomic data point to moderating but ongoing real gdp growth. yet the level of uncertainty resulting from the turmoil in financial markets remains high. we emphasise that the firm anchoring of medium to longerterm inflation expectations is of the highest priority to the governing council. we believe that the current monetary policy stance will contribute to achieving this objective. the governing council remains strongly committed to preventing second - round effects and the materialisation of upside risks to price stability over the medium term. we will continue to monitor very closely all developments over the coming weeks. regarding fiscal policies, the governing council welcomes the fact that the berlin eurogroup agreement of april 2007, including the consolidation targets, was confirmed in the ecofin council ’ s opinions on the latest stability programme updates. there is no justification for delaying structural fiscal consolidation in countries with remaining fiscal imbalances. on the contrary, the challenges ahead call for particularly prudent and stabilityoriented fiscal policies to support private sector confidence. achieving and maintaining sound fiscal positions will also allow the free

the region. saarcfinance : the journey saarcfinance was established in 1998 as a network of our central bank governors and finance secretaries to facilitate dialogue on macroeconomic policies and the exchange of mutual experiences and ideas. saarcfinance received formal recognition in january 2002 at the 11th saarc summit held in kathmandu, nepal. over the last two decades, cooperation between our central banks has expanded and strengthened. the swap facility, which has been the cornerstone of this cooperation, has played a vital role in helping to manage external sector pressures during the pandemic. india has also extended financial support in the form of a number of credit lines to saarc partners. policy interface, technical assistance, capacity building and knowledge exchange have all played a vital role in deepening this engagement. in particular, research and policy driven collaborative studies, and symposiums and seminars such as this one, have facilitated this whole endeavour by bringing about greater appreciation of the issues, challenges and successes experienced by each country and the region as a whole. to cite some fulfilled deliverables under the belt of saarcfinance, the governors ’ group meetings have formalised our cooperation and dialogue on macroeconomic conditions and policies. the saarcfinance website was developed and launched in 2011. the saarcfinance database went live on may 26, 2016 at the governors'symposium held in mumbai. the first issue of the half - yearly saarcfinance e - newsletter was published in december 2006. during india ’ s chair in 2020 - 21, the portal called ‘ saarcfinance sync ’ was created as a network of connectivity among our central banks. the scope and coverage of the scholarship scheme was expanded by including more universities, more central banking related courses and by increasing both the scholarship amounts and the number of scholarships that may be granted in a year. efforts have also been made to revamp the saarcfinance newsletter with a new design and format and by expanding its ambit to topical articles. our virtual seminars kept alive our engagement through the pandemic. the financial inclusion platform, a repository of initiatives taken by saarc central banks to promote financial inclusion and financial literacy, has also facilitated policy making by enriching it with pan - regional perspectives. the measures we have taken to deepen cooperation on capacity building are also noteworthy, especially the collaborative studies on a variety of topics. macroeconomic developments : opportunities and challenges our countries have come together