yannis stournaras : prospects of the greek economy after six years of adjustment speech by mr yannis stournaras, governor of the bank of greece, at the eu - arab world summit " partners for growth and development ", athens, 3 november 2016. * * * it is a great pleasure for me to be here with you today and have the opportunity to share my thoughts on the prospects of the greek economy after six years of economic adjustment. i will focus on four issues : first, the achievements made so far during the difficult years of economic adjustment. second, the missteps and delays in the adjustment process. third, recent developments and future challenges and prospects. and fourth, i will highlight the main reasons why greek assets constitute a prime investment opportunity. 1. economic adjustment over the past six years since the beginning of the sovereign debt crisis, six years ago, greece has come a long way in adjusting its fiscal and external imbalances and has implemented a bold programme of structural reforms. first, there has been unprecedented fiscal consolidation. the fiscal consolidation effort contributed to an improvement in the general government primary balance as a percentage of gdp by more than 11 percentage points over the period 2009 – 2015, despite the deepening recession. in fact, in the period 2013 – 2015 greece managed to maintain small primary surpluses ( as defined in the programme ) in the general government budget for the first time since 2001. adjusting for the effect of the recession, the improvement in the “ structural ” primary balance over the period 2009 – 2015 reached 17 percentage points of potential gdp ; twice as much as the adjustment in other member states that were under eu - imf programmes. second, competitiveness has been restored. the cumulative loss in labour cost competitiveness vis - a - vis our trading partners recorded between 2000 and 2009 has been fully recovered. this development reflects the effect of structural reforms in the labour market, which allow for greater flexibility in the wage bargaining process, as well as the impact of the sharp rise in unemployment on labour costs. third, the external adjustment has been significant. the current account posed a small surplus in 2015 ( 0. 1 % of gdp ). this marks a significant turnaround of the current account balance by about 15 percentage points of gdp since 2008. adjustment has come primarily from a decline in imports of goods, particularly in 2009, when world trade collapsed due to the global recession. however, since 2010, exports, excluding shipping, have contributed significantly to the improvement.

agus d w martowardojo : the future of asia ’ s finance – financing for development welcoming remarks by mr agus d w martowardojo, governor of bank indonesia, at the joint imf - bank indonesia conference “ the future of asia ’ s finance : financing for development ”, jakarta, 2 september 2015. * * * • honorable managing director christine lagarde, the co - host of this conference ; • honorable minister bambang brodjonegoro, • honorable governors, deputy governors, ambassadors, representatives from regional and multilateral institutions, business community, our colleagues from academics, distinguished panelists, • ladies and gentlemen, good morning and warm welcome to all of you. 1. it offers me great pleasures to welcome you to this conference jointly co - hosted by bank indonesia and the imf with the topic of “ the future of asia ’ s finance : financing for development. ” the topic is indeed crucial considering wide financial gaps still exist in the region. in this regard, searching for an optimum financing would be challenging in the midst of current circumstances. 2. before i share my views on financing issues, allow me to discuss the global economic development. asia ’ s finance is now facing great challenges. in the near term, we may still confront an episode of heightened capital flows volatilities as consequences of unfavorable global economic condition. sluggish global economic growth continues to depress production and outlook. strong u. s. dollar following partial u. s. recovery and easing in europe and japan have tested some of asia ’ s economic buffers. weak commodity price has significantly hurt exports of some key regional economies. and more recently, china ’ s decision to rejuvenate its moderating growth through exchange rate policy has made the risk of external funding intensified. in fact, the increasing, yet again, global financial volatility, in a tune of 2013 global tantrum, is happening as we are sitting here, and it has led to a pull - back in capital flows from some emerging markets, including in asia. 3. while asia has remained broadly resilient to the risks, and it has led global growth for the past thirty years, its role to support global economic recovery seems to be weakening a little bit. a number of emerging market economies in the region are experiencing a declined economic growth and facing increased financial vulnerability, mostly related to capital reversal. 4. asia definitely needs the right policy mix to secure growth and