mugur isarescu : opening speech – conference “ investment and investment finance in romania ” opening speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, at the conference “ investment and investment finance in romania ”, organized by the national bank of romania and the european investment bank, bucharest, 13 february 2020. * * * vice president mcdowell, state secretary gyorgy attila, distinguished audience, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure for me and the board of directors to welcome you at the national bank of romania, to the conference dedicated to investment and investment finance in romania. this conference has been organized by the european investment bank in partnership with the national bank of romania. in fact, this partnership has had a long standing as a pillar for progress and investment in romania. please allow me to express a heart - felt welcome and to extend my warmest thanks to mr. andrew mcdowell, vice - president of the european investment bank and to ms. debora revoltella, chief economist of the european investment bank, for their continuous support and deep commitment to develop investments in romania, and, moreover, for being trusted partners and friends. i am glad that we have decided to co - organize this conference here in romania, at the central bank, as this year we honour two landmarks with historic importance. one is the national bank of romania ’ s 140th anniversary and the other is the 20 years ’ celebration of the day ( february 15th 2000 ) when the eu formally started the accession negotiations with romania. i remember that moment vividly, as it happened during my mandate as prime minister of romania. as a veteran, in office since 1990, i am fully aware to what extent romania has benefited from the significant support provided by the european investment bank. the projects financed by eib proved to be a catalyst for development, with a multiplier effect in all the economic sectors. nevertheless, romania continues to need ( i ) to develop solid growth strategies based on investments and ( ii ) to accomplish the development priorities in infrastructure, healthcare and small and medium enterprises ( smes ), as well as ( iii ) to enhance cohesion with the other eu member states. the future will certainly bring challenges as well as opportunities. one opportunity, as per the latest european investment bank ’ s flagship report on investment, is the present context of low interest rates, which could provide support for speeding up lending and investments. there is adequate room for upscaling public investment in areas such

jean - pierre roth : what to expect from monetary policy? summary of a speech by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the international center for monetary and banking studies ( icmb ), geneva, 25 november 2003. the complete speech can be found in french on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * a number of current issues, such as the weakness of the economy and the new national bank law, raise the question as to what we can expect from monetary policy. with regard to the stability of consumer prices, the answer is relatively simple. the goal of price stability is at the very top of the swiss national bank ’ s priority list. since both inflation and deflation are monetary phenomena over the long term, the snb can and will guarantee price stability in future too. expectations of monetary policy are considerably lower when it comes to regulating economic activity. economic activity in switzerland is strongly dependent on growth abroad. inflation does not bring about long - term economic growth. stable prices, however, are the best precondition for sustained growth. a goal of price stability automatically ensures a degree of stability in the economy. because of uncertainty and time lags, however, fine - tuning the economy is an impossible task. speculative bubbles in the real estate and equity markets have been an increasing source of macroeconomic instability during the past two decades. although equity and property prices serve as important indicators for the future development of economic activity, they are not a goal of monetary policy. many reasons militate against a direct monetary - policy response to changes in asset prices. the question nevertheless arises as to whether monetary policy could not do more to prevent any speculative bubbles from forming in the first place.