carlos da silva costa : fostering cooperation between the ess and the escb opening address by mr carlos da silva costa, governor of the bank of portugal, at the bank of portugal workshop on “ fostering cooperation between the ess and the escb ”, lisbon, 25 november 2011. * * * members of the committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, i am very pleased that the banco de portugal can host this workshop on “ fostering cooperation between the european statistical system ( ess ) and the european system of central banks ( escb ) ” – an event meant to recognise and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics ( cmfb ) – and i would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you for joining us today. it is also my great pleasure to have the opportunity to briefly address you on this joyous occasion. let me start by saying that the banco de portugal thinks highly of the work that the cmfb has undertaken for the last two decades in assisting the commission to achieve close cooperation with the european union ( eu ) member states in the fields of monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics. i would like to praise specially the advisory role provided by the committee in the context of the issues raised by the application of the excessive deficit procedure ( edp ). over this 20 - year period, the cmfb acted in a very relevant fashion, accompanying the reinforcement of integration in europe, especially during the creation of the economic and monetary union. the committee was able to develop the right conditions for an effective and mutually beneficial cooperation between, on the one hand, the national statistical institutes and the eurostat and, on the other hand, the national central banks and the european central bank ( ecb ), thus fostering the interchange of statistical knowledge among these entities and contributing to bringing about efficient data collection and compilation as well as access to high - quality eu and euro area economic and financial statistics. ultimately, the work of the cmfb has contributed very positively to building further trust in official statistics. i remain convinced that, to help us coping with the predicaments that the euro area is facing at the present juncture, the cmfb still has a unique and significant role to play. indeed, four years after the beginning of the largest financial crisis since the great depression, global financial stability has yet to be secured and many policy challenges remain to be addressed : global recovery is not

notable declines in exports to other neighboring countries. in addition, japan ’ s other export markets such as the united states maintain solid economic growth. on the foreign exchange market, the yen has appreciated against southeast asian currencies following their shift to a floating exchange rate system. however, the yen has, overall, remained in a stable range reflecting a gradual depreciation against the u. s. dollar. thus, japan ’ s export environment as a whole continues to be favorable, and the currency and financial instability in southeast asia has, so far, not affected the fundamental trend of japan ’ s exports in any significant way. in addition, southeast asian countries have been adopting various measures, some of which are internationally coordinated. on november 1, it was announced that the international monetary fund ( imf ) and other international organizations have agreed on a financial package for indonesia. in the foreign exchange markets, the monetary authorities of japan, singapore, and indonesia have confirmed that they will cooperate to stabilize the indonesian currency. the bank of japan strongly hopes that these and similar measures taken by other countries will soon restore monetary and financial stability in these countries and encourage a smooth economic adjustment. the bank will continue to observe developments carefully. with regard to business fixed investment, this is likely to continue to expand as a whole against the backdrop of sustained growth in corporate profits. firms ’ projections of earnings in fiscal 1997 indicate that smaller nonmanufacturing firms anticipate a decline in profits for the first time in four years, strongly affected by a decline in public investment and in personal consumption. in the manufacturing sector, however, both large and smaller firms expect a continued rise in earnings and profits partly supported by solid export performance. in addition, large nonmanufacturing firms project sustained growth in profits following the favorable results in the manufacturing sector. some of these profitable firms recently revised their earnings outlook downward because of the recent deceleration in domestic demand. however, on the whole, earnings and profits remain on an upward trend. against the backdrop of such developments in profits, overall investment plans in fiscal 1997 seem to be firm, especially in the manufacturing sector, although business fixed investment of smaller firms in the nonmanufacturing sector is expected to remain at a low level. in view of the aforementioned profit trend, the positive outlook for returns on investment, and the strong demand for information - related investment, it is fair to expect that business fixed investment will continue to increase. as i have discussed, the bank believes