and efficient, and also as a response to the growing challenges to the european independence in the field of payments. the spread of instant payments in europe is expected to continue, as is the establishment of infrastructure to accept instant payments initiated by customers via smartphone applications on physical pos terminals at merchants. in this regard, the socalled european payments initiative5 ( epi ) was created, which aims to develop payment alternatives in europe, including through a digital wallet based on instant payments. the review of the second payment services directive is also gathering serious speed, and after the directive has been into force for more than five years, a legislation package for the revision of psd2 is expected to be announced in the summer of 2023. this package is expected to contain a revised payment services directive ( i. e. psd3 ) and a proposal for a new payment services regulation. in addition, a new legal framework for open finance will be developed, which will build on the existing regulations in the psd2 on open banking, which shows good development, including in our country. the purpose of such a new legal framework would be to allow, with the customer's consent, their data falling outside the scope of psd2 to be shared and reused by financial service providers to create new and improved services. the financial services and payments sector in europe and in our country has traditionally been developing intensively and upwardly in recent years, driven by both innovation and the development of european regulations, which create a favourable environment for competition and security of consumers. the measures related to the introduction of the euro favour the faster and more efficient integration of the financial market infrastructures in our country with those in the euro area. i wish interesting and fruitful work to the participants in today's financial forum. 1 ecb report on card fraud in 2020 and 2021, may 2023. 2 https : / / www. bis. org / about / bisih / topics / cbdc. html 3 https : / / www. imf. org / en / news / articles / 2022 / 02 / 09 / sp020922 - the - future - of - money - gearing - up - for - central - bank - digital - currency 4 https : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / pub / pdf / other / ecb. eurosystemretailpaymentsstrategy ~ 5a74eb9ac1. en. pdf 3 / 4

gradually removing monetary accommodation in may. the data released over the past two months or so accord with the view that the earlier soft readings on the economy were not presaging a more serious slowdown in the pace of activity. employment has remained on an upward trend, retail spending has posted appreciable gains, inventory levels are modest, and business investment appears to have firmed. at the same time, low long - term interest rates have continued to provide a lift to housing activity. although both overall and core consumer price inflation have eased of late, the prices of oil and natural gas have moved up again on balance since may and are likely to place some upward pressure on consumer prices, at least over the near term. slack in labor and product markets has continued to decline. in light of these developments, the fomc raised the federal funds rate at its june meeting to further reduce monetary policy accommodation. that action brought the cumulative increase in the funds rate over the past year to 2¼ percentage points. should the prices of crude oil and natural gas flatten out after their recent run - up - - the forecast currently embedded in futures markets - - the prospects for aggregate demand appear favorable. household spending - - buoyed by past gains in wealth, ongoing increases in employment and income, and relatively low interest rates - - is likely to continue to expand. business investment in equipment and software seems to be on a solid upward trajectory in response to supportive conditions in financial markets and the ongoing need to replace or upgrade aging high - tech and other equipment. moreover, some recovery in nonresidential construction appears in the offing, spurred partly by lower vacancy rates and rising prices for commercial properties. however, given the comparatively less buoyant growth of many foreign economies and the recent increase in the foreign exchange value of the dollar, our external sector does not yet seem poised to contribute steadily to u. s. growth. 1 / 5 a flattening out of the prices of crude oil and natural gas, were it to materialize, would also lessen upward pressures on inflation. overall inflation would probably drop back noticeably from the rates experienced in 2004 and early 2005, and core inflation could hold steady or edge lower. prices of crude materials and intermediate goods have softened of late, and the slower rise in import prices that should result from the recent strength in the foreign exchange value of the dollar could also relieve some pressure on inflation. thus, our baseline outlook for the u. s. economy is