will spare no effort and will make recourse to its entire expertise in order to speed up this process. in this context, what i would like to say is that the national bank of romania will strengthen its historical ties with the romanian academy with a view to drawing up extensive works, meant to be a “ point of reference ” inspiring strategies or programmes and entwining the visions and ideals of coexisting generations in contemporary romania. actually, one of the conclusions revealed by the troubled 130 year history of the national bank of romania, as well as by the universal history is that every time public debate descends from the field of free confrontation, among scientific, well - grounded hypotheses, into an arena of noisy or authoritarian arguments, irrespective of the immediate outcome, it will eventually take its toll on all walks of life. the current global economic and financial crisis has given us a warning once again that there is no valid substitute for consistent economic policies. everywhere in the world, the correction of economic policy errors is painful and most of the time hard to understand by the general public and inherently tardy. the sustainable development of romania hinges on the consistency of economic policies and the euro adoption strategy in the following years may represent a catalyst for achieving this coherence. ladies and gentlemen, in 1881, the year when the national bank of romania actually started its activity, george enescu, a music genius, was born. he was an outstanding composer and violinist boasting a brilliant international career. this evening, we will enjoy his wonderful music. the national bank of romania invites you to an anniversary concert performed by exceptional artists of the “ george enescu ” philharmonic orchestra, conducted by the renowned conductor horia andreescu. we will also be delighted by the talent and virtuosity of a young pianist, andrei licaret. all these artists will give us a great joy in this splendid hall of the romanian athenaeum with a programme comprising well - known musical compositions from the national and international repertoire, selected from the “ eastern flank ” of the european union : enescu, smetana, chopin, bela bartok, grigoras dinicu. i thank you once again and i invite to take the floor mr jean claude trichet, the president of the european central bank, a close friend of the national bank of romania.

and overall economic activity as the year progresses. macro - financial environment 2 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches there is no doubt that the macro - financial environment remains very challenging both domestically and globally. over the past twelve months many asset prices have fallen sharply, yields have risen, and market volatility has increased substantially. the fragility of certain markets and its participants – particularly in the non - bank financial sector – was made all too apparent by the gilt market disruption in the uk in september. the inflationary challenges are being experienced most acutely as shocks to people's real incomes and an erosion of their living standards. the profit margins of businesses, particularly the smaller businesses with less scope to pass on cost increases to customers, will suffer due to the size of their energy bills and other costs as well as falling revenues as customers reduce discretionary spending. taken together, these pressures have the potential to lead to an increase in repayment challenges for some borrowers. 3 overall, risks to the irish financial system have risen. however, there are a number of reasons to believe there is resilience in the system to meet these risks. while some mortgage customers are experiencing directly the effects of our interest rate decisions, there is substantial resilience across the mortgage market. lower levels of indebtedness, a gradual shift towards fixed rate borrowing, pandemic savings and substantial housing equity, are all ensuring that the mortgage market as a whole has significant capacity to absorb shocks. even in the sme sector, where cost increases will severely tighten profit margins for many, indebtedness has fallen continually for a decade, reducing the risk of macroeconomic spillovers between the financial sector and the real economy. regulatory priorities we continue to engage with the banking sector, other lenders, insurers and investment firms to ensure the financial system plays its proper role in supporting the economy and users of financial services. banks and other lenders in particular have a key role to play by : providing the lending and deposit services required to support a well - functioning economy ; supporting customers who may be experiencing difficulties in light of the changed macro - economic environment, including in particular customers in or facing arrears on existing loans ; and developing and implementing strategies which preserve long term sustainability and firms'capacity to continue to support the economy through this period and into the future. the financial sector continues to change rapidly, in particular through digitalisation and technological innovation. the entrance of new types of participants in the