supervisory information confidential, and which stands in contrast to traditions on the other side of the atlantic, such as those reflected in the practices of the us federal financial institutions examinations council, which publishes a wider range of supervisory information on banking institutions operating in the us market. we fully respect legitimate reasons for keeping certain information confidential, but would also call for bis central bankers ’ speeches more transparency towards market analysts and financial market participants. in any event, such a call for more transparency does not obviate the importance of having a more sophisticated legal framework and practical arrangements for sharing confidential data among the relevant authorities in order to support their respective tasks. the purpose of such a legal framework and arrangements must be to avoid duplication of data requests, to reduce the reporting burden, and to ensure that policy actions by decision - makers are not rendered ineffective owing to lack of access to information that has already been collected. hence, i count on the support of the european and national authorities, as well as the industry, to strive for this common goal and overcome confidentiality constraints and obstacles to the exchange of data to support the tasks of decision - makers. concerning economic data, we have seen evidence of the need for further work on the development of these statistics, as they are now increasingly coming under scrutiny from policy - makers and financial market participants. the excessive deficit procedure mechanism and the new alert mechanism put in place by the european commission to detect and correct macro - economic imbalances on the basis of a scoreboard of indicators are adding pressure on statisticians to deliver high quality data. in this context i would like to stress the importance of establishing good cooperation between central banks and national statistical institutes, both at the eu and the national level. i would like to conclude my remarks today by assuring you that the escb will further develop its statistics so as to better fulfil the mandates given to the ecb and to the european systemic risk board. the sixth ecb statistics conference is coming to an end. the last session will take place after lunch at which peter bull will present his book on escb statistics to mark the 20th anniversary of the escb statistics committee ladies and gentlemen, allow me to finish by thanking the chairs, the speakers, the discussants and the many distinguished participants in this conference. you have provided excellent contributions and reflections on strategic issues for the future development of escb statistics. it has been a very good opportunity to enhance our cooperation and to identify challenges to the supply of timely, relevant and reliable

by increasing the growth potential of the euro area. the growth potential of an economy, however, is determined by technological and structural factors. raising its growth potential is an important challenge that the euro area faces, achievement of which would spread its benefits throughout the world. while some reforms have already taken place, additional efforts are needed. ongoing comprehensive structural reforms of the labour and product markets remain essential in order to improve the functioning of markets in the euro area. responsibility for these reforms lies with the governments, and with the key national economic agents on the side of labour and industry. it is crucial to increase investment incentives through structural policy measures such as deregulation and privatisation. fiscal policy should continue along the path of diminishing adverse incentives provided by tax, benefit and pension systems, while reforms on the expenditure side of the budget are also needed for progress along the way towards the medium - term objective of attaining budgetary positions " close to balance or in surplus ". to sum up, although monetary policy cannot lift the euro area's growth potential, the benefits of price stability for growth are evident, as stable prices provide the proper environment for structural reforms to work. while the ecb will maintain its commitment to the maintenance of price stability, other policy - makers should assume responsibility for increasing the growth potential of the euro area. this, in turn, is the best allocation of responsibilities to contributing to sustainable non - inflationary growth in the euro area and, thereby, also at a global level.