gdp growth, generating around half a million jobs each year. in a context of subdued wage growth and low inflation, employment growth has supported disposable income and a recovery in consumer spending, which is now close to its pre - crisis level. export performance has substantially improved, helping to reduce external debt. the current account deficit of almost 10 % of gdp before the financial crisis turned into a surplus in 2012 and has remained positive throughout the recovery. the number of exporting firms has grown and exports now go to more destinations than in pre - crisis times. finally, wage moderation and low inflation are supporting competitiveness. in fact, the spanish economy recovered the competitiveness lost in the decade prior to the financial crisis. however, the recovery of the spanish economy may have passed its cyclical peak and downside risks have emerged. while still growing at a reasonable pace, the rate of economic expansion has slowed gradually in recent quarters. real gdp growth has decelerated in 2018 compared with the growth we have seen since the second half of 2014. this slowdown mainly reflects weakness in net trade. looking forward, global protectionism and weakening conditions in emerging markets represent further downside risks to growth. internally, the present low savings rate of spanish households and the need to restore savings in the near term, points to moderation in consumption going forward. let me point to the three main challenges that the spanish economy is facing at present, in my view. the first relates to the process of fiscal consolidation. while well advanced, it is still incomplete. the government deficit ratio is still the highest in the eu and it needs to be further reduced to bring the government debt ratio on to a downward path. in fact, adequate buffers need to be rebuilt now, in times of solid growth and favourable financing conditions. this would enable fiscal policy to support the economy in the event of any future shock. secondly, unemployment remains very high, as does the share of temporary employment. spain ’ s unemployment rate remains well above pre - crisis levels and is roughly the double of the euro area rate. this situation calls for further reforms to address the duality of the labour market and more effective active labour market policies to re - integrate young people and the long - term unemployed. finally, productivity remains low and needs to be raised to maintain economic growth and enable sustainable wage growth. productivity gaps between regions and between large and small firms point to regulatory fragmentation which still needs to be addressed. to enhance productivity, measures to increase

since 2013. during this time, the economy has expanded by an estimated 14 % and the level of gdp is now above its pre - crisis peak. this strong recovery reflects substantial policy efforts at both national and european level, particularly the reforms initiated at the height of the sovereign debt crisis. under the eu financial assistance programme, numerous measures and reforms were undertaken to strengthen the banking system. these included the stress testing and recapitalisation of troubled banks ; the identification of troubled real estate assets and their transfer to sareb ( spain ’ s “ bad bank ” ) ; and the reform of the savings banks. at the same time, actions and reforms at european level, including monetary policy ( longer - term refinancing operations, ltros, asset purchase programme, app ) and the move towards banking union, have ensured liquidity and strengthened confidence in europe ’ s monetary and financial system. financial reforms were accompanied by a series of reforms to labour and product markets and to the public sector. the 2012 labour market reform gave priority to collective bargaining agreements at firm level over those at sectoral or regional level. reforms to product markets, including the law on market unity, have sought to reduce regulatory obstacles to firms ’ growth, although implementation has been challenging. the spanish economy has rebalanced as far as “ flow ” variables are concerned, while “ stock ” imbalances are gradually correcting. banks ’ asset quality and solvency has substantially improved, as reflected in higher capital ratios and a steadily declining ratio of non - performing loans ( npls ). the npl ratio of spanish banks has more than halved from 13. 6 % in 2013 to 6. 4 % now and continues to fall steadily. the banking sector has been able to finance growth with new loans while steadily deleveraging as legacy loans mature. private sector debt has fallen considerably. deleveraging of firms and households is well under way, with debt having declined by almost one - third since 2012. at the same time, the public debt - to - gdp ratio, while remaining very high at almost 100 %, has stabilised. the public 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches deficit ratio came down from double - digit levels at the peak of the crisis to 3. 1 % in 2017. more than two million jobs have been created since the end of 2013 and the unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of more than 26 % to 15 %. throughout the recovery, the pace of employment growth has broadly matched that of