banking community. a spotlight that intensified in 2015 when – out of the blue – the swiss national bank abandoned the floor of the swiss franc against the euro. the swiss decision led investors to look for comparable candidates to abandon their peg. with only few countries to look for, denmark immediately experienced a massive inflow of currency. consequently, the krone came under strong pressure to appreciate against the euro. those hectic weeks in beginning of 2015 stand clear in my memory. the whole bank was buzzing with activity. we were all on alert. we sold kroner of a historical amount of 275 billion – corresponding to 37 billion euros. and in just three weeks, we cut the deposit rate four times to - 0. 75 per cent. an unprecedented low. also, on our recommendation, the government suspended the issuance of bonds. like a qe programme, this reduced the supply of bonds available to investors, thereby pushing yields lower. throughout the crisis, i repeated one message time and again : “ we will not abandon the peg ”. and in the end, the speculators got the message. leaving them with significant financial losses. while we had additional earnings of just over 2 billion kroner. during the first decades of our policy regime, we developed experience in dealing with large currency outflows. the fact that episodes of pressure in foreign exchange markets can now result in substantial currency inflows is testament to our strong economic fundamentals. more recently, the exchange rate peg weathered the pandemic crisis. while we resorted to applying our monetary policy tools, there was not much drama. that is eye - catching considering the severity of the crisis. it reflects the robustness and the confidence that has been built up in the danish economy over the past 40 years. * * * closing of the speech * * * so let me conclude : throughout the last 40 years we have shown both the determination and the ability to pursue a fixed exchange rate policy. page 6 of 7 we have the necessary tools, and we are backed by support from the government. together, we stand shoulder to shoulder in our commitment to the peg. the policy also enjoys support from across the political spectrum as well as from economic experts, the financial community, the business community as well as from the labour unions. this is testament to the strong results that the policy has delivered for the danish economy over the last 40 years. thank you for your attention! page 7 of 7

, we participated in the arrangements around the european currencies. * * * in the 1970s and early 1980s, monetary stability was lost * * * the first three decades after world war ii constituted a period of monetary stability. but in the 1970s and early 1980s stability was lost. policy mistakes following the first oil crisis – including tax reductions – and a setup for taxation not geared for high inflation contributed to a sharp increase in inflation. in search of quick fixes to more structural economic problems, consecutive danish governments resorted to devaluating the krone. the devaluations weakened the economy. it culminated in the early 1980s where unemployment had increased to around 10 per cent. inflation was above 10 per cent. government budget deficit close to 10 per cent of gdp. and long - lasting current account deficits had increased foreign debt outstanding to more than 40 per cent of gdp. page 2 of 7 expressions such as “ denmark on the edge of the abyss ” and “ state bankruptcy ” were part of the public debate. * * * the introduction of the current fixed exchange rate regime * * * in 1982, there was a change in government. this provided an opportunity to chart a new economic course. on thursday 9 september, the leaders of the largest political parties in the incoming government – poul schluter and henning christophersen – issued a short statement. only five lines. but it turned out to be defining for macroeconomic policymaking in the decades to come. the statement concluded that “... a devaluation is not included, nor will it be included, in the formulation of the economic policy that will be presented by the new government ”. at the outset, the significance of the statement was probably underestimated – even within danmarks nationalbank. in our annual report for that year, the fixed exchange rate policy is mentioned only briefly. the new government soon got an opportunity to show its commitment. about a month after the government had been formed, the swedish krone was devaluated by 16 per cent. the fact that we did not follow suit with a devaluation provided credibility to the commitment. * * * ground rules for a fixed exchange rate policy * * * the introduction of the current fixed exchange rate policy regime also marked the introduction of a stability - oriented economic policy more broadly. wage indexation was suspended and later abolished. fiscal policy was tightened substantially. and a few years later, legislation was amended to discourage excessive borrowing. over the last 40 years