a large part responsible for the problems we are facing today. in particular, i will illustrate how those member states whose competitiveness has deteriorated substantially since monetary union have not managed to take advantage of it. second, i will describe germany ’ s economic performance during the crisis and the recovery. in particular, i will show how germany served as an import buffer during the economic downturn that followed the financial crisis. now that many countries are struggling with recovery, the more dynamic upswing in germany is providing an important impetus to the rest of europe. finally, i will turn to the challenges that the european sovereign debt crisis is posing to germany. considering that germany is providing a large part of the fiscal contributions to euro area countries with refinancing problems, confidence in germany ’ s solvency is vitally important in the current situation. germany therefore bis central bankers ’ speeches has to set an example for implementing sound fiscal policies within the euro area. however, this alone will not be sufficient to resolve the sovereign debt crisis. to secure long - run stability within emu, significantly stronger incentives for sound public finances are indispensible. 2. intra - emu divergences what critics actually have in mind when they talk about germany ’ s export strength is the existence of current account surpluses which contrast with current account deficits in other emu member states or other countries around the world. i would like to emphasise that neither current account surpluses nor current account deficits are a bad thing per se. current account surpluses reflect net foreign lending and current account deficits net foreign borrowing, and depending on the circumstances, both can be appropriate for a given country. for a country with a declining working - age population, for example, it is quite reasonable for residents to save money for the future and to invest a share of it abroad. by compensating for a shrinking income in the future, the money saved today allows consumption to be smoothed over time. conversely, countries which are undergoing a catch - up process and need financing for the investments might be willing and promising borrowers of foreign funds. consequently, for a proper assessment we have to take a closer look at the underlying drivers of current account surpluses in some euro - area countries and of current account deficits in others. one worrying development is that divergences in current account balances have mostly gone hand in hand with divergences in price competitiveness. whereas germany, as a surplus country, has been able to improve

, especially in asia, on whether a regional credit rating agency is superior to local credit rating agencies, even if the latter used regional standards for their ratings. in my view, further standardisation of the rating systems of local credit rating agencies at the regional level would be a crucial step in facilitating cross - border comparisons and using the advantages that local credit rating agencies have in terms of reducing the problem of asymmetric information. v. i would now like to turn to two special aspects of developing local currency bond markets which are closely related to ifis, namely the database on local currency bond markets and technical assistance. as regards the database, formulating recommendations for further reforms to develop local currency bond markets in eme depends on the availability of appropriate macroeconomic and financial data. so far the amount of internationally comparable data on domestic bond markets is limited. in particular, there has so far been little internationally comparable data on the maturity and on the instrument structure, and thus on the currency and maturity composition of domestic debt securities in emes. the information on sectoral mismatches is even more limited. there is also little information on derivatives markets in emes. however, more data on these aspects of domestic debt would be a vital factor in making a better assessment of the risk characteristics of domestic debt. in view of the increasing importance of global portfolio flows for real economic development, a more comprehensive and timely coverage of crossboarder activities – especially of non - bank private activities – is also necessary. improving transparency of local currency bonds is not only a matter of macro and microeconomic data. it is also a matter of qualitative data, namely regarding the regulatory and legal framework or the market infrastructure. these qualitative factors can have a significant impact on transaction costs for issuance and investment. empirical studies by the asian development bank have shown that legal protection and standards for governance and transparency are major determinants for deepening bond markets. in my view, improving transparency is not only important for central banks or supervisory authorities but also for competition between financial markets, and thus also for market participants. therefore, we should encourage the bis, the imf and the world bank as well as the national statistical agencies to improve the data basis for local bond markets. but let me add a word of caution. i am also responsible for statistics at the bundesbank, and complaints about the statistical burden are frequently brought to my attention. it is therefore important to balance the need for more and better data with the additional