to be compatible with our mandate, any new instrument would have to be justified solely on monetary policy grounds, comply with the principle of proportionality and contain sufficient guarantees to prevent it from entering into conflict with the ban on monetary financing of governments. there would also need to be an explanation of what sets the new instrument apart from omt. the final condition, relating to economic incentives, is that it is crucial that member states continue to have sufficient incentives to conduct their fiscal and economic policies in a sustainable manner and reduce their debt levels. effective fiscal conditionality is indispensable in this case. it is clear that our current focus must be on the very high inflation rates. it is important to concentrate all of our efforts on combating this high level of inflation. i would now like to thank you for listening and wish you fruitful discussions, an insightful exchange of ideas and all the best for the event. footnotes : 1. european central bank, eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area, june 2022, footnote 10. 2. draghi, m., monetary policy in the euro area, opening keynote speech at the frankfurt european banking congress, frankfurt am main, 21 november 2014.

which has helped make up for the large number of baby boomers who are retiring and leaving the labor force. another piece of good news is that the robust conditions in the labor market are being felt by many different groups. for example, the unemployment rates for african americans and hispanics have fallen sharply over the past few years and are now near their lowest levels since the bureau of labor statistics began reporting data for these groups in 1972. groups with higher unemployment rates have tended to benefit the most as the job market has strengthened. but jobless rates for these groups are still higher than those for whites. and while three - fourths of whites responded in a recent federal reserve survey that they were doing at least okay financially in 2017, only two - thirds of african americans and hispanics responded that way. incoming data show that, alongside the strong job market, the u. s. economy has grown at a solid pace so far this year. the value of goods and services produced in the economy — or gross domestic product — rose at a moderate annual rate of 2 percent in the first quarter after adjusting 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches for inflation. however, the latest data suggest that economic growth in the second quarter was considerably stronger than in the first. the solid pace of growth so far this year is based on several factors. robust job gains, rising after - tax incomes, and optimism among households have lifted consumer spending in recent months. investment by businesses has continued to grow at a healthy rate. good economic performance in other countries has supported u. s. exports and manufacturing. and while housing construction has not increased this year, it is up noticeably from where it stood a few years ago. i will turn now to inflation. after several years in which inflation ran below our 2 percent objective, the recent data are encouraging. the price index for personal consumption expenditures, which is an overall measure of prices paid by consumers, increased 2. 3 percent over the 12 months ending in may. that number is up from 1. 5 percent a year ago. overall inflation increased partly because of higher oil prices, which caused a sharp rise in gasoline and other energy prices paid by consumers. because energy prices move up and down a great deal, we also look at core inflation. core inflation excludes energy and food prices and generally is a better indicator of future overall inflation. core inflation was 2. 0 percent for the 12 months ending in may, compared with 1. 5 percent a year ago. we will continue to