and here the ecb will continue to take all necessary steps within our mandate of price stability – for all euro area citizens in all parts of the euro area. already our policies have dispelled tail risks in financial markets that could have led to selfreinforcing vicious circles. we are now orienting our measures to ensure that the right financial conditions are in place to support a recovery from the crisis. this was the motivation behind our recent decision to expand our pandemic emergency purchase programme to €1. 35 trillion, coupled with the up to €3 trillion we are making available to banks that lend to the real economy. but monetary policy cannot address the more profound questions about how the economy will look in the future. historical experience suggests that major economic shifts like the one we are going through today require government action to foster change and smooth the transition to the new normal. in particular, governments need to foster innovation by providing the right framework to encourage experimentation and risk - taking in new and growing sectors, and to support the transition to new jobs for people working in “ sunset ” sectors. in parallel, they need to ensure that the conditions are in place to direct investment towards the technologies and sectors of the future. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches this requires sufficient financing. the european commission estimates that the investment needs for delivering the digital transformation as well as the green transition will be at least €1. 2 trillion over the next two years. 2 but in a number of countries – italy among them – mobilising investment requires above all a business - friendly economic environment, with efficient and agile public and private services, adequate physical and digital infrastructures, a well - functioning judicial system and a strong financial sector. if such actions are taken, this crisis can engender a period of positive transformation. it offers an opportunity to policymakers to take a decisive step forward towards more inclusive, greener and more digital growth. a renewed focus on the digital economy, for example, can help break the negative feedback loop we see in europe between fragmented markets, low economies of scale and weak investment in digital capacities, which has at times resulted in the knowledge economy in the euro area contributing only about half as much to productivity growth as in the united states. 3 greater digitalisation would in turn help accelerate the shift in europe towards what the economist carlota perez has termed “ smart green growth ”, which is not only about renewables and sustainable goods, but also about innovation in the productivity of resources

ipumbu shiimi : credit information management in namibia welcoming remarks by mr ipumbu shiimi, governor of the bank of namibia, at the credit information workshop, windhoek, 19 august 2013. * * * director of ceremony mr. darrel beghin, executive director, south african credit providers association ms. mojgan derakhshani and daniel kanyi from finmark trust representatives of credit bureaus, representatives of lending institutions, distinguished invited guests, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen, good morning! i am pleased to be here this morning and thank you for the invitation to open this important workshop on credit information, a topical subject of interest to namibia. allow me therefore, director of ceremony, to extend my gratitude appreciation to finmark trust for this initiative. i am informed that the overarching objective of the workshop is to share the outcome of the fact finding mission to namibia conducted by finmark trust in march this year and also to share the south african experience in credit information management. ladies and gentlemen, this workshop comes at an opportune time for namibia. why do i say that? three reasons come to mind. first, namibia in general and the bank of namibia in particular, are vigorously pursuing a financial inclusion agenda. this is underpinned by the launch of the namibia financial sector strategy in august 2012 by the honourable minister of finance. this strategy represents a long - term development strategy for the namibian financial sector. one of the goals of this strategy is to reduce financial exclusion from baseline of 51. 7 % financial exclusion determined in 2007 to 26 % percent by 2021. the good news is that we have made significant progress in this regard, financial exclusion has fallen since 2007, it now stands at 31 %. but we still have some work to do to achieve the goal of financial inclusion. a good credit information system is a necessity for financial inclusion and this is what i would like to talk about in my remarks today. first, what is the importance of a good credit information system? three reasons : a. research has shown that there is a positive correlation between the credit information system through the presence of credit registries / bureaus in an economy and access to finance. this is because credit information sharing plays a critical role in the financial sector in facilitating access to finance to people who are in need of funding. this is achieved by availing information on borrowers ’ credit worthiness to lenders. this helps lenders with credit assessment, meaning