. innovation is already altering the power source of motor vehicles, and much research is directed at reducing gasoline requirements. at present, gasoline consumption in the united states alone accounts for 11 percent of world oil production. moreover, new technologies to preserve existing conventional oil reserves and to stabilize oil prices will emerge in the years ahead. we will begin the transition to the next major sources of energy perhaps before midcentury as production from conventional oil reservoirs, according to central tendency scenarios of the energy information administration, is projected to peak. in fact, the development and application of new sources of energy, especially nonconventional oil, is already in train. nonetheless, it will take time. we, and the rest of the world, doubtless will have to live with the uncertainties of the oil markets for some time to come.

improved their profitability and capitalization, thanks to their growing net interest income. more generally, financial systems throughout the world have remained remarkably resilient in the last few years – despite being hit by the pandemic, the spike in inflation, rapid interest rate increases and the deposit runs in regional american banks. the strengthened resilience is a testament to the profound regulatory and supervisory reforms after the global financial crisis, as well as to the better readiness of policymakers to take bold, timely and exceptional policy actions in times of crisis. we expect that the systemic risks and vulnerabilities in finland´s real estate market will start to ease this year, assuming that interest rates fall and the economy starts to recover as projected. 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches as we – the bank of finland – stated in our annual financial stability assessment, published in may, we are fully aware that the deterioration in the international security environment exposes finnish and other western financial systems to shocks and widespread disruptions. for instance, there is a heightened risk that the financial market infrastructure and financial institutions could face more frequent and severe cyberattacks and hybrid interference. in response to this, finnish financial institutions have improved their continuity planning and contingency preparations. the national emergency account system established in finland two years ago, in turn, ensures that critical banking and daily payment services would be available to the public even in times of severe disruption. the short - term economic outlook for the euro area and finland is now somewhat brighter than projected just a while ago. however, our long term growth prospects look rather weak, unless we can manage to find new sources of growth. that goes for all of europe, too. as documented by ian goldin and others, the growth rate of labour productivity in the oecd economies between the 1970s and the 1990s was around 2 %. in the current century, it has fallen to 1 %. the gap between europe and the us has been widening, especially since the pandemic. the discrepancy between post - pandemic developments in productivity is, however, exaggerated if we only look at productivity per person. this is because the pandemic caused a very large adjustment in the number of people employed in the united states, while in europe, thanks to different job retention schemes, jobs were preserved – but hours worked fell abruptly. in other words, average hours worked decreased dramatically in europe, but much less in the us. consequently, productivity per person looks