the misconception and that “ no it ’ s not a grant, but a loan ”. and not only that, the interest rate would be market based. with enthusiasm we allocated $ 3 million to this unit. unfortunately we only disbursed less than $ 300, 000 in that year. of course a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. today we are covering more than microfinance, incorporating the whole msmes. but more of that later. the current state of the economy and challenges let me now turn first to the focus of today ’ s forum, in the context of the economy. i am sure no one can disagree that fostering the development of msmes is critical to boost growth, reduce unemployment and raise the living standards of our people. the potential here is huge, and this is even more vital for our economy at this critical point in time. last year the economy is expected to have contracted by 4. 4 %, investment fell, companies have closed down ( i ’ m sure they were more in the small and micro enterprise category, or smes ), jobs have been lost and business and consumer sentiment and confidence has been, and remains, weak. low growth rate one of our major problems is that our growth rate has been too low. even excluding last year ’ s contraction, our growth rate has averaged only 2. 8 percent over the previous years. looking ahead, over the next three years, although the economy is forecast to grow, this growth is expected to be modest, averaging only 1. 5 percent. i think it is obvious to all of us that we need to do more ; for one thing it is insufficient to absorb many of our school leavers, which means a rise in unemployment. i have highlighted this in several past speeches but i feel it is important to do so again : with a growth rate this low, we will double the size of our economy in about 50 years – that is half a century! ; for some, it is a lifetime! however, if we could lift our growth rate to, say, 5 percent per year, we would double our economy in less than 20 years. if growth was even higher, say 8 percent per year, we would double in only 12 years. i think this example speaks for itself. the question then, is, “ what should we do to fix this? how can we grow better? how can we grow faster? ” obviously in order to grow faster we need

in the external value of the euro reduces the upward price pressure from the external side. looking ahead, inflation in the euro area is likely to display slightly negative rates in the coming months before picking up later in 2016. thereafter, supported by our substantial monetary stimulus and the projected evolution of energy prices and economic developments more generally, euro area inflation rates should recover further. in the current context, it is crucial for the ecb to ensure that the very low inflation environment does not become entrenched in second - round effects on wage and price - setting. our monetary policy continues to aim at safeguarding price stability in fulfilment of our mandate. while the monetary policy measures taken since june 2014 have helped supporting the euro area ’ s economic recovery and fighting too low inflation, new shocks that emerged during the course of last year prompted a measurable downgrade of the inflation outlook. hence, in march 2016 the ecb ’ s governing council decided on a comprehensive package of measures that complement and reinforce each other and thereby strengthen the monetary policy impulse. the package combines a further broad - based easing of financial conditions through a further reduction in the ecb ’ s key policy rates and the expansion of our asset purchase programme, with other measures, notably four new targeted longer - term refinancing operations ( tltro ii ) that will reinforce the transmission of our monetary policy bis central bankers ’ speeches stance to the borrowing conditions of firms and households. the tltro ii operations will enable banks to borrow liquidity for a period of four years at a rate that can be as low as the rate on the deposit facility – currently – 0. 40 % – in case these banks increase their lending beyond a certain benchmark. the ecb ’ s asset purchases are being expanded in terms of both size and composition : the monthly purchase volume has been increased from €60 billion to €80 billion and the universe of eligible assets now includes non - bank corporate bonds. purchases are intended to run until the end of march 2017 – or beyond, if necessary –, and in any case until the governing council sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation to levels close to 2 % over the medium term. taking into account the current outlook for price stability, the governing council expects the ecb ’ s key policy rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, well past the horizon of the net asset purchases. we are confident that the very accommodative monetary policy stance will provide