central bankers'speeches in canada, economic growth has come in somewhat stronger than projected in the january mpr, but the pace remains weak and below potential. growth in the second half of 2023 was close to zero, allowing supply to catch up to demand. labour markets have continued to ease gradually. with employment growing more slowly than population, the labour market has come into better balance. job vacancies have returned to more normal levels, and the pace of hiring has been modest. wage growth has been in the 4 % - 5 % range for a while, but there are now some signs that wage pressures may be easing. consumer price index ( cpi ) inflation eased to 2. 9 % in january. this largely reflected lower energy prices, an easing in food price inflation, as well as weakness in semidurable prices like footwear and clothing. but shelter price inflation remains elevated and is still the biggest contributor to overall inflation. more broadly, underlying price pressures persist. our preferred measures of core inflation eased in january but remain above 3 % on a year - over - year and three - month basis. as well, the share of cpi components rising faster than 3 % declined but is still above the historical average. looking ahead, we continue to expect inflation will be close to 3 % through the middle of the year before easing in the second half. gasoline prices are expected to continue to add volatility to inflation in coming months, and shelter price pressures are likely to persist. in other words, the path back to our 2 % target will be slow, and progress is likely to be uneven. governing council also discussed the risks to the economy and inflation. risks to global energy prices and transportation costs related to conflicts remain elevated. domestically, inflation could prove more persistent than expected. we don't want to keep monetary policy this restrictive for longer than we have to. but nor do we want to jeopardize the progress we've made in bringing inflation down. governing council remains concerned about the persistence of underlying inflation, and we want to see a further deceleration in core inflation in the coming months. we remain focused on the indicators of inflationary pressures that we've mentioned before. demand pressures have eased, and the economy now looks to be in modest excess supply. with the labour market coming into better balance, we are looking for further evidence that wage growth is moderating. before our april decision, we will also get new information on corporate pricing behaviour and inflation expectations.

erkki liikanen : the enlargement of the euro area 2011 – trust in the future introductory statement by mr erkki liikanen, governor of the bank of finland, at the euro conference, tallinn, 20 september 2010. * * * estonia has made an impressive journey over the past two decades. this journey, from the rebirth of the country two decades ago, through rapid economic transition, and now into the heart of europe, has always been followed keenly on the northern side of the gulf of finland. in my short introductory statement, i would like to offer some observations on that journey and some wishes for the future. i will try to draw some lessons for other prospective emu members, but also for the eurosystem and the eu as a whole. i make these observations from the vantage point of a close neighbour and long - time friend of estonia. timing my first observation concerns the choice of timing. at the same time as estonia ’ s emu criteria were being assessed in brussels and frankfurt, european bond markets were under considerable strain. there were signs of panic in trading floors, and the financial press was predicting even the breakdown of the monetary union. the reactions were proven, as usual, overblown, and the breakdown predictions badly informed fantasy, but it did all create a rather curious welcome for estonia into the monetary union. but, in a way, in those hectic weeks the eu showed many of its best qualities. it ’ s institutions were able to take brave decisions when needed as is shown by the establishment of the european financial stability facility ( efsf ). eu also showed the ability to concentrate on estonia ’ s case on its own merits, undisturbed by the ongoing instability on the financial markets. convergence criteria my second observation is that, although we now have considerable experience in applying the convergence criteria, we still need to work on fine - tuning the way we interpret them. examination now puts more weight than before on sustainability – and rightly so. convergence is not about hitting an admissible combination of economic indicators at one point in time. but we may still be concentrating too much on the near term. convergence is about a lasting commitment to sustainable economic policy. it includes commitment to price stability, to sustainable public finances, and to sustainable private sector development. and, ultimately, it requires the capacity to take the appropriate political decisions when things go wrong. i think it is this last aspect that in the end made estonia ’ s admittance relatively smooth