an airport or the design of the cooling system in a nuclear power station should be determined by experts and not through political voting. some of the demands made of us on the basis of our role as authority are fairly obvious. we must, for instance, to the best of our ability try to meet the price stability target we have been allocated. we must also be able to explain in a good way to the general public why we act in the way we do. this is particularly important as the riksbank has such a high degree of independence. this independence means that it is important to be able to evaluate how we are carrying out our duties. to make it possible to evaluate us, we must be open and clear in everything we do. but it is perhaps not as self - evident that the responsibility of public authority makes a number of other demands on our actions. this applies, for instance, to the forms for how we make our interest rate decisions and how we communicate our monetary policy intentions. the latter is usually called “ signalling ” in central bank language. i shall return to this. transparency – being open and clear it was long common for central banks to be secretive and a little mysterious. one example, which today may sound fairly strange, is that the federal reserve, the us central bank, did not begin publishing the interest rate changes it had decided until 1994 1. however, over the past fifteen years, central banks have in general become increasingly open and clear with regard to their actions and intentions. this applies both in inflation - targeting countries like sweden and in countries that have not quantified a target, like the united states. democratic reasons for transparency … there are several reasons for the increased openness and clarity, or transparency, as it is usually called. the most important one is probably that the central banks have become more independent in relation to the political system. as i observed initially, it is the general public who, via the political system, are the central bank's ultimate principals. as the central banks became independent, it became more important that the general public should have an insight into their operations. it was quite simply not compatible with good democratic tradition for an authority allocated a high degree of independence to remain closed and secretive. increased transparency was a means of creating legitimacy among the general public for the new system. … and efficiency reasons but there are not only political reasons as to why the central banks have become more open and clear. another explanation is that many central banks have seen greater

, according to the global competitiveness index, stand at 63 and 53 out of 141 countries, which is still distant compared to more advanced countries. the recently published ebrd digitalisation index, on average for the region, is gravitating around 70, with a wide gap to be closed compared to the frontier of 100. is there any role for central banks in supporting the structural agenda? although this is obviously beyond the central banks'remit, still they can provide a support in some segments such as digitalization, which can unleash productivity revival or tackle climate risks - an issue that is becoming intensively proliferated among central banks. it is neither a coincidence nor an attempt for central banks to be more impressive and fancy. climate risks can severely affect the capacity to grow, the prices dynamics, financial stability as well. let me conclude, it is very challenging to deliver the goals and evolve when the top of one mountain is a bottom of another. however, we have to keep climbing with steps that will not only mean addressing the current burning issues, but structural hurdles as well. macroeconomic policies can play a growth - supporting role, especially in the short - term, but cannot be a substitute to structural policies, which are key for increasing the resilience and lifting growth potential. in fact, many challenges that we face today are a result of neglect of structural policies in the past. it is not an easy task but to quote jane goodal " what you do, makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make ". and we as policymakers have to do what makes our societies more prosperous and resilient. thank you. 4 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches