two years. but the question now is : is it getting worse? in recent weeks, compared with the worst - case scenario, there ’ s been some optimism on the us - china trade relationship. that said, there remains a long - term discussion to be had about whether the world will restore its commitment to a global trading system, or whether, over time, we will see a bigger set of barriers that limit global trade. how could a hard brexit affect the eurozone ’ s fragile economy? a deal has been agreed between the uk government and the european union, which of course will be tested in the next election. the worst - case scenario of a no - deal brexit in the short term has been eliminated and the uncertainty over it is fading. but even under the deal there is going to be a more challenging economic relationship between the united kingdom and the eu27. that is regrettable and it ’ s damaging, although – as the united kingdom is a mid - sized economy – more of the damage will be in the united kingdom than in the eu27. there is a big discussion about the risk of a secular stagnation in europe. you rule out a 1 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches recession in the short term, but do you see this risk of a “ japanese scenario ” in the long term? the bigger issue with secular stagnation is not that europe would have soon a recession ; it ’ s that europe and the wider world might grow at a very slow pace. it remains a relevant discussion because the big question is : are we going to grow at a low rate of maybe 1 % a year? or are we going to see a better performance than that? a lot depends on that in terms of living standards. one way to look at the issue – and i think this is very important – is that governments have a lot of opportunities in this environment because the decisions they make in terms of their policies towards business, their policies towards education, their policies towards employment, all of this matters very much. essentially, if the policy choices by governments are more favourable to economic performance, then some of this stagnation fear may fade. do you mean countries that have a fiscal margin to use investments to boost growth, like germany, should act? that ’ s one element, but the other element which is for everyone, all countries – for germany, for italy, for every country – is that there are many non - financial policies that matter.

radovan jelasic : price stability and state ownership in serbia speech by mr radovan jelasic, governor of the national bank of serbia, at a roundtable discussion with representatives of the government of serbia, belgrade, 3 july 2007. * * * ladies and gentlemen, let me focus on this occasion on two topics : 1. stability of prices in the light of interplay between fiscal and monetary policy, and 2. state ownership. few days ago i heard someone say : “ it is the stable currency that everybody wants at first, and then they want as much as possible of the same currency ”. that is a true picture of serbia today. and, while monetary policy sets a priority to constantly watch over the first part of this sentence, our citizens soon forget that a “ surplus brings on a headache ”, i. e. that by increasing spending we keep going back to the first part of the sentence and demand “ stable currency. ” it is of course unrealistic to expect citizens to gladly forsake some of their earnings in favour of the state so that the currency could remain stable. on the other hand, that is exactly why countries have or should have a responsible and professional government which takes into account medium and long run solutions to macroeconomic issues and is fully aware that the second part of the above sentence “ and then they want as much as possible of the same currency ”, in fact means inflation. in contrast to the nbs whose main objective “ to attain and preserve price stability ” is precisely defined by the law, governments are free to define their objectives and are not bound by any legal formulations. governments often alter their objectives as they go along. they are often unwilling to remember promises made only a few days earlier, not to speak of those made before they came to power or those made in their early days in power. as the governor, i am very pleased that the parliament has clearly defined our objective and that the objective is very good – “ to attain and preserve price stability ”. i am convinced, however, that that particular objective was set much more in line with the principle of “ follow thy neighbour ” policy than due to some deep seated conviction that price stability is key to economic development, improvement in the standard of living of all citizens, attracting foreign investment, etc. for forty years yugoslavia and serbia have been trying to attain “ growth and development ” and putting stability of prices into the second or the third line of interest. the culm