existential for many businesses. many households, in turn, will be stressed as the risk of unemployment increases and incomes fall. the difficulties of banks ’ clients will also have consequences for the banks ’ own operations, which may be reflected in banks ’ own access to funding, including the terms of funding. [ slide 4. finnish economy falling into recession ] the finnish economy, too, is falling into recession. the bank of finland published two alternative scenarios on wednesday [ 18 march ] on the near - term economic outlook. in these scenarios, finnish gdp is seen to contract by 1. 5 – 4 % in 2020. exports in particular will decline. the economy may end up in a deep recession if household consumption also falls substantially and domestic supply chains become disrupted. the immediate economic impact of the restrictions placed on personal mobility and other activities will, however, prove temporary. nevertheless, longer - term effects may follow if a sufficient number of businesses, banks or other financial sector participants find themselves in difficulties. the threat is bankruptcy, unemployment and welfare loss. this is why the economic policies to be decided in the coming weeks are so important. [ slide 5. the ecb ’ s monetary policy measures of 12 march ] at its meeting last week, the governing council of the ecb decided to conduct, temporarily, additional longer - term refinancing operations ( ltros ) to provide immediate liquidity support to 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches the euro area financial system. the governing council decided to apply considerably more favourable terms during the period june 2020 to june 2021 to all targeted longer - term refinancing ( tltro iii ) operations outstanding during that time. the governing council decided to add a temporary envelope of additional net asset purchases of eur 120 billion until the end of the year, ensuring a strong contribution from the private sector purchase programmes. other central banks have also taken similar action. another important decision for the euro area was the joint agreement by central banks on 15 march to lower the pricing on us dollar funding granted via the standing us dollar liquidity swap arrangements and to extend the maturity of us dollar liquidity operations. euro area banks can apply for this us dollar funding via the eurosystem ’ s standing facilities, and they have already done so. [ slide 6. ecb banking supervision measures in response to the corona virus ] the ecb is responsible for banking supervision in the euro area. last week, the ecb ’ s banking supervision authority also responded to the rapidly changing

olli rehn : economic effects of the corona crisis and measures by the central banks speech by mr olli rehn, governor of the bank of finland, at the stakeholder event in connection with the publication of the bank of finland ’ s annual report, bank of finland, helsinki, 20 march 2020. * * * accompanying slides of the speech. distinguished guests, dear friends, welcome to the publication of the bank of finland ’ s annual report and our stakeholder event. in these exceptional circumstances, i highly appreciate the opportunity to present our current economic review to such a large audience of key stakeholders of the bank of finland. i would, of course, rather have welcomed you here on the bank ’ s premises in person, but we must now make do with this virtual dialogue. in this situation, it is of paramount importance to contain the spread of the virus to keep risk groups safe. at the bank of finland, we are always working to ensure as stable an economic foundation as possible for households and businesses. ensuring this now will require exceptional measures in response to the coronavirus and the sharp deterioration in global economic developments it will bring in its wake. i will get back to this in a short while. but to begin with, i will say a few words about the bank of finland ’ s own economy in 2019 and our sustainability programme. the bank of finland ’ s financial statements and profit distribution proposal were published today. we participate in the implementation of the euro area single monetary policy, which has in recent years been reflected in an expansion of our balance sheet. this requires accumulation of sufficient risk buffers. even so, part of the bank ’ s profits can still be transferred to the state. for 2019, the amount transferred was eur 188 million, as was decided today by the parliamentary supervisory council. since adoption of the euro in 1999, a total eur 3 billion of the bank of finland ’ s profits has been transferred to the state. * * * in december, the bank of finland launched a sustainability programme. the foundations of the central bank ’ s sustainability lie in our core functions. we promote the well - being of the finnish people primarily by ensuring that the level of prices remains stable, the financial system is reliable and payment systems are secure. sustainability also means listening closely to our stakeholders. dialogue gives us the tools to consider our own role in major social concerns, such as combatting climate change and the containment of over - indebtedness. during the next few years,