, rather the opposite. the need of strategic restructuring does not mean a weaker commitment by greek banks. after all, their presence here and in other countries is a strategic choice as they see substantial long - term growth and earnings potential in both albania and the region more generally. the future : the cost has been borne ; we are now expecting to bear the fruits dear friends we are now seeing the results of the changes that have been taking place in the greek economy. over the past year or so there has been positive news with respect to financial indicators and soft data ; recently, there has been positive news in the hard data. the policy reforms – including fiscal adjustment and structural reforms – that greece has been implementing during the past several years follow an established recipe. that recipe worked for the u. k. in the 1980s, sweden and finland in the early 1990s, asia in the late 1990s, germany in the early 2000s, and in many other countries. this recipe includes fixing social security, strengthening employment incentives, raising consumption taxes, and streamlining the public sector. some of these measures – especially structural reforms – take some time to work. they require patience, perseverance, and the ability to ignore the siren calls of those who offer quick fixes. that recipe is now working in greece. the benefits of the country ’ s adjustments extend beyond the credibility and competitiveness effects of decreasing macroeconomic imbalances. in light of these developments, i expect economic growth to return, starting in 2014. if greece achieves a primary surplus in 2013, which seems very likely to happen, the euro area will be discussing further debt reducing measures in spring 2014. indeed, financial markets apparently share my view about a positive future for the greek economy. bis central bankers ’ speeches recently, the ft ran an article that reported that both hedge and long funds are investing heavily in greek banks. i can confirm that this is indeed the case. the markets have introduced a new term grecovery – that is, a recovery of the greek economy, to replace the earlier term, grexit. as my remarks today make clear, i believe that the markets ’ reassessment is well - founded. thank you for your attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches

yannis stournaras : greece and the global economy - prospects and main challenges ahead speech by mr yannis stournaras, governor of the bank of greece, at an event on the occasion of accenture ’ s 25th anniversary in greece " greece and the global economy - prospects and main challenges ahead ", athens, 28 march 2018. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure for me to be here tonight and share my thoughts on the prospects of the greek economy against a backdrop of brighter prospects for the global and euro area economy but also against the headwind of higher uncertainty due to a rise in protectionism worldwide. 1. the international environment t h e global economy continues to strengthen, underpinned by the investment and international trade recovery, on account of favorable financial conditions, supporting monetary policy, improving confidence and low international commodity prices. this favorable momentum is expected to continue in 2018. 1 world trade in goods and services has recovered and its volume is now estimated to have increased by 4. 7 % in 2017, compared with 2. 5 % in the previous year. the upward revision of growth rate of international trade is not only due to a faster recovery in world gdp but also to an increase in income elasticity that has fallen in recent years due to the sluggishness in fixed capital investments which are to a large extent “ trade - intensive ”. regarding the euro area, economic expansion is strong and broad - based. 2 the recovery is accompanied by solid employment gains, reflecting also past labour market reforms. the unemployment rate continues to decline despite an increase in labour force participation. private consumption is supported by rising employment and growing household wealth. the investment outlook is positive, on account of rising corporate profitability, easing financing conditions and solid demand, as well as the need for capital stock replacement after several years of underinvestment. the broad - based global expansion is providing impetus to euro area exports. overall, in the euro area, gdp in 2017 grew by 2. 3 % – the highest post - crisis growth rate – and is expected to increase by 2. 4 % in 2018 and 1. 9 % in 2019. positive consumption and investment developments have been fostered and reinforced by the pass - through of the ecb ’ s monetary policy measures, that eased funding conditions for households and firms3. the contribution of the ecb easing measures to annual euro area gdp growth was estimated at half a percentage point in 2017 and still is expected to be around