. certain food prices could temporarily rise as a result, also due to bad weather conditions in other euro area countries, and while real gdp growth could initially be dampened slightly it may subsequently be stimulated by reconstruction. overall, subdued aggregate demand and the strengthening of the euro should contribute to lower inflationary pressure. at the same time, other factors - in particular monetary developments, but also wage trends and oil price developments - might pose risks to price stability in the medium term and therefore need to be monitored closely. regarding fiscal policies in the euro area, flood - related costs should lead to a review of priorities and a reallocation of expenditure. in addition, against the background of recent developments, it seems to be more warranted than ever to call on member countries to remain committed to the stability and growth pact. countries with sound fiscal positions should safeguard their achievements, while countries with remaining imbalances must avoid deficits in excess of 3 % of gdp and implement determined policies in order to progress towards budgets close to balance or in surplus. this is essential for maintaining and further strengthening confidence in the policy framework in the euro area and for establishing fiscal positions in all countries that allow automatic stabilisers to work efficiently without endangering sound fiscal positions in the longer term. in the field of structural reforms we continue to urge governments to implement, in a determined way, the agenda set in the broad economic policy guidelines. structural reforms will contribute to expanding the euro area ’ s potential for non - inflationary growth and to reducing its high level of unemployment. at the same time, they will help to foster confidence among consumers and investors in long - term growth and employment opportunities in the euro area, thereby having a positive effect on spending and investment decisions in the short and medium term. such confidence is fostered by a determined and broadly based implementation of the reform agenda, focusing, in particular, on labour and product markets. we are now at your disposal for questions.

to better inflation nowcasting : websites of retailers and retail chains, websites disclosing or comparing product prices, as well as government websites with information on administered prices. this enables us to cover directly from the web around 90 % of the cpi basket. we calculate the cpi in line with the methodology of the statistical office. the whole process of inflation nowcasting based on web scraping is automated, i. e. both data scraping and processing are automated, which enables us to monitor inflation on a weekly or even daily basis. unlike most comparable international practice, our methodology is based not only on prices for online shopping, but on all relevant information on prices. namely, most other inflation nowcasting methods, described in the relevant papers, mainly give a partial inflation estimate ( nowcasting only individual cpi components, primarily food ), while our model provides for a comprehensive inflation nowcast in real time. i am proud to always point out that we were among the first in the world to introduce the instant payment system, as the most perfect payment method that currently exists. recently, we recorded a record number of transactions performed in one day – as many as 360, 741 transactions. the system provides for the execution of transactions via standard channels, but also for a fast and easy payment of bills by scanning the nbs ips qr code, transfer of funds to the payee registered for the service by selecting his / her mobile phone number from the contact list, payment at physical points of sale by scanning / generating the ips qr code, as well as at online points of sale by deep link technology. we have also made available on the nbs ips system website the generator and validator of nbs ips qr codes. instant payments at points of sale have significant advantages for merchants compared to card payments because of lower costs compared to paying with cards of international card systems, as well as because the merchant has the funds available on its account in a few seconds. and that is the goal when we talk about the development of technology and fintech – creating additional value with the most modern service at lower costs. seneca says : " if a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favourable ". translated onto the financial sector – there can be no success without recognising market needs and without a clear goal we wish to achieve. at the same time, like any innovation, new concepts of financial services provision also carry risks related to cyber security, data