also been conducting joint seminars such as this one to share experiences and learn from one another. this workshop therefore comes at such an opportune moment to assist our central banks to achieve the internal and regional objectives. the workshop offers various opportunities to all of us in a number of ways : • first, this is an opportunity to jointly re - assess and evaluate our performance in the areas of business continuity management and risk management over the period. • secondly, it provides us with an opportunity to learn from organisations that have run risk management and business continuity programs for many years. • third, this is an opportunity for each of our central banks with programs in their infancy to lay the correct foundation to implement sound and resilient risk management and business continuity programs. • fourth, this is an opportunity to obtain uniform training for each of the key players in their respective roles. with a common foundation, the objective of harmonisation in the region will draw closer to reality. bank of uganda would greatly benefit if the following areas are specifically addressed within this workshop : • performance measurement : what are the key indicators that central bank management should use to know that their business continuity and / or risk management programs are giving them the intended benefits? • evaluation : how does the central bank evaluate performance over time and which tools are recommended? • reporting : what should be reported about risk and business continuity at the different levels of the organisation including the board? • incident reporting and monitoring : how does the central bank ensure that all risk incidents are systematically reported and monitored? • culture change : what are the different approaches to organisational culture change towards risk and business continuity? i would like to conclude by again thanking you all for coming to this workshop and to thank the centre for central bank studies and the centre for technical central bank cooperation for the technical support. bank of uganda is greatly indebted to them. i wish you fruitful deliberations. it is now my pleasure to declare this workshop officially opened.

##ing operations over the life of the respective tltro. for banks whose eligible net lending exceeds a benchmark, the rate applied in tltro iii operations will be lower, and can be as low as the average interest rate on the deposit facility prevailing over the life of the operation. the maturity of the operations will be extended from two to three years. fifth, in order to support the bank - based transmission of monetary policy the governing council decided to introduce a two - tier system for reserve remuneration in which part of banks ’ holdings of excess liquidity will be exempt from the negative deposit facility rate. separate press releases with further details of the measures taken by the governing council will be published this afternoon at 15 : 30 cet. the governing council reiterated the need for a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy for a prolonged period of time and continues to stand ready to adjust all of its instruments, as appropriate, to ensure that inflation moves towards its aim in a sustained manner, in line with its commitment to symmetry. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches today ’ s decisions were taken in response to the continued shortfall of inflation with respect to our aim. in fact, incoming information since the last governing council meeting indicates a more protracted weakness of the euro area economy, the persistence of prominent downside risks and muted inflationary pressures. this is reflected in the new staff projections, which show a further downgrade of the inflation outlook. at the same time, robust employment growth and increasing wages continue to underpin the resilience of the euro area economy. with today ’ s comprehensive package of monetary policy decisions, we are providing substantial monetary stimulus to ensure that financial conditions remain very favourable and support the euro area expansion, the ongoing build - up of domestic price pressures and, thus, the sustained convergence of inflation to our medium - term inflation aim. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. euro area real gdp increased by 0. 2 %, quarter on quarter, in the second quarter of 2019, following a rise of 0. 4 % in the previous quarter. incoming economic data and survey information continue to point to moderate but positive growth in the third quarter of this year. this slowdown in growth mainly reflects the prevailing weakness of international trade in an environment of prolonged global uncertainties, which are particularly affecting the euro area manufacturing sector. at the same time, the services and construction sectors show ongoing resilience and the euro