crisis, we need to point out some related issues that are dealing with the exit of non - standard policy measures and turning towards fiscal consolidation, currently being the topical issues between the policy makers worldwide. the tapering decision by the fed by the end of the last year somehow announced the need of this reversal that will eventually be recognized in other countries, too. we already acknowledged the benefits from all specific measures implemented during the crisis, but we should be aware of their transitory role and the need to get back to the standard policy tools. of course, the signs of current recovery are pointing to different stages of the normalization path and therefore, this reversal in the policy settings will differ from country to country. the new threat of deflation in the advanced economies is yet another potential obstacle in this reversal. from this point, that is already a challenging one, the next big challenge will be to return to a solid and sustainable growth. during this crisis, we experienced a lot and we learnt a lot. a number of weaknesses, mainly in the financial and fiscal areas, have been detected and addressed. anyway, with the first signs of economic recovery, not everything has been fixed yet. there is still a need to repair banks ’ balance sheets, to squeeze central banks ’ balance sheets, to restore market confidence and to strengthen public debt management. the prolonged period of low interest rates has created a room for fiscal expansion and public debt increase, but the fiscal authorities must be aware that the end of this period is just about to come. the regulatory and institutional reforms undertaken in the last years should contribute to the soundness and stability of the financial systems. what has been done in this field in the last years should be fruitful on a longer horizon. * * * to sum up, the global economy is on the recovery path although there is still a long way to go towards sound and sustainable growth. reshaping of the banking and financial sector will definitely contribute in this regard and the contribution in the same direction is expected from the fiscal sector, too. the central banks worldwide have proven their flexibility, but the monetary policy must not be overburdened in the long run and should get back to its primary function. a sustainable growth needs sound policies and accelerating reforms towards building more competitive and more flexible economies. ladies and gentlemen, bis central bankers ’ speeches i hope i have already triggered many issues to be discussed in details later on, during this conference. considering the eminent keynote speakers that we have in the first

dimitar bogov : around a decade after the crisis - heading to the new global cycle and monetary policy normalization opening speech by mr dimitar bogov, governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, at the 7th annual research conference : around a decade after the crisis : heading to the new global cycle and monetary policy normalization, ohrid, 12 april 2018. * * * honorable governors, your excellences, dear representatives of central banks, ladies and gentlemen let me welcome you all to our 7th annual research conference this year in the beautiful city of ohrid. considering the current global surrounding, this year ’ s conference “ around a decade after the crisis : heading to the new global cycle and monetary policy normalization ” addresses a relatively long period since the onset of the global crisis and the need to face new challenges. at this point, the questions to ask ourselves and to discuss during the conference would be : how strong and sustainable is the ongoing global recovery, what are the reasons behind the subdued inflation, what should be the pace of monetary policy normalization, are the banks now more resilient, are we better prepared to prevent the risks? maybe they are simple questions, however, like in many other cases in real life and a real economic framework, there are no simple answers. the current global economic recovery is broadly spread across different regions in the world and associated with positive economic sentiment indicators. along with the ongoing monetary policy normalization in the us economy, the new us fiscal package and its impacts on the economy also absorbs attention. in the eu, as already clearly announced, the accommodative monetary policy, although with lower amount of assets purchase, is expected to apply by september this year or beyond and interest rate changes to take place later. however, the positive global outlook has still been surrounded by various risks, including the still pending outcome of brexit negotiations, geo - political risks and the possible protectionism measures by the us administration. however, besides the sound and wide spread recovery, an important feature of the global environment is the generally subdued inflation, not always in line with the model - based forecasts and standard empirical findings. in this view, the flattening of the phillips curve based on current economic data, points to possible altering of the standard relation between the economic cycle and inflation, raising discussion on one of the basic empirical findings in the macroeconomics in the academic and central banking community. the subdued inflation nowadays is mainly due