carolyn wilkins : bank of canada's latest monetary policy report press conference opening statement by ms carolyn wilkins, senior deputy governor of the bank of canada, at the press conference following the release of the monetary policy report, ottawa, ontario, 12 april 2017. * * * good morning. governor poloz and i are pleased to be here to answer your questions about today ’ s interest rate announcement and our monetary policy report ( mpr ). there were a number of issues that were central to governing council ’ s deliberations that i would like to elaborate on before turning to your questions. many of the economic data that we have seen since our last mpr have been stronger than expected. that is certainly a welcome change. given these positive surprises, and because monetary policy must be forward - looking to achieve our inflation target, governing council ’ s discussions focused on three main issues : first, the extent to which recent strength is signalling stronger economic momentum in canada and globally ; second, how heightened levels of uncertainty, particularly about us tax and trade policies, should be incorporated in our outlook ; and third, how much excess capacity the economy currently has, and the growth rate of potential output going forward. let me start with the first issue. in our view, some of the upward surprises come from factors that are unlikely to keep adding to economic growth at the same pace. energy - related activity has stopped declining and is transitioning to a new level that companies tell us is commensurate with the current oil price environment. this is good news. consumption has also been more robust than expected as households have benefited from the canada child benefit. this will continue to support the level of spending, but not the growth rate. housing activity has also been stronger than expected. we have incorporated some of this strength in a higher profile for residential investment, although we still anticipate slowing over the projection horizon. the current pace of activity in the greater toronto area ( gta ) and parts of the golden horseshoe region is unlikely to be sustainable, given fundamentals. that said, the contribution of the housing sector to growth this year has been revised up substantially. price growth in the gta has accelerated sharply in recent months, suggesting that speculative forces are at work. governing council sees stronger household spending as an upside risk to inflation in the short term, but a downside risk over the longer term. meanwhile, exports and investment are still weaker than one would expect at this stage of the business cycle, even though growth

mojmir hampl : states as debtors speech by mr mojmir hampl, vice governor of the czech national bank, to the alpbach financial market symposium, alpbach, austria, 2 september 2011. * * * i would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to this wonderful and amazing place. and that is not a platitude ; i really mean it. it is my first time here in alpbach, and i can only hope that it is not the last after i finish my presentation. concerning the sovereign debt crisis, we are describing it as something absolutely fatal. but from a bird ’ s eye view – as was said by several speakers yesterday – sovereign debt problems and overindebtedness of nation states are nothing new. europe as a continent has a rich experience with such problems. the czechs share a long part of their history with austria, so many might remember from their textbooks the sovereign instabilities and crises of the 19th and 20th centuries, for instance the well - known crash of state finances in 1811, in the middle of the wars against napoleon. that crash was followed by a drastic monetary reform, default of the austrian empire and a search for a better way. this time is different, however, at least in the following respects : 1. we forgot that this can happen, that sovereigns can become perfectly insolvent just like any other debtor, and states behaved accordingly. 2. this is the first time in 60 years or so that a sovereign crisis has hit the developed world, the rich world, not the developing one, the hardest. to demonstrate that : almost 80 % of all the imf ’ s rescue loans have gone to europe! over 40 % have gone to the eurozone itself, and the share is going to rise. the developed world is not accustomed to this. 3. this time the problem of sovereign debt has appeared at a time of peace and prosperity. 4. moreover, the eurozone – a monetary union without a state – is a completely new, unprecedented arrangement. typically, the solution to such a crisis used to be : inflation, default or monetary reform, very often accompanied by currency devaluation, or a combination of all these. please note that typically when the imf organizes a programme for a developing country, it requires a partial default or devaluation to disburse funds. nothing like that is possible within the eurozone – monetary solutions are unavailable for the weak