strong support from abroad, both in terms of visiting lecturers and money. in some cases, these two aspects were interconnected, and completely new programs were gradually built up. among all, let me name center for economic research and graduate education, us business school prague and cmc graduate school of business. i can offer another illustration of how far we have gone. i have been with the czech national bank for six years. but as an academician i was in contact with the central bank already at the beginning of 1990s. at that time, the staff was struggling with very basic issues : a new statistics and data on the newly born market economy, ways how the economy should be analysed and what kind of theory or model should be applied etc. the czech national bank was receiving a lot of help from the foreign central banks and international institutions. today, we are at the level of state - of - art and we do not receive but provide foreign technical assistance. we assist directly to a number of countries as well as our experts are invited to imf missions around the world. and yet our staff is based primarily on people educated in the czech republic. i consider it as a good signal that we have reached significant achievements in economic education and that the problem of missing generation will soon cease to exist. i can only hope that we will continue with this process of catching up and that cmc will keep contributing to it. what can i wish to you personally? let me recall my recent visit to the bank of israel on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. we were having lunch with the finance minister benjamin netanyahu and we discussed necessary fiscal reforms. mr. netanyahu said that for pushing reforms through, one needs three things : the vision, the will and the political power. i can only add that combining these ingredients - the vision, the will and the power of knowledge - form the leader, regardless whether we talk about politics, managements, or science. having in mind education and network you have gained 1 / 2 during the emba course you have the best assumptions to succeed. i wish you all the very best in your further professional carriers. 2 / 2

firms are fleeing to the euro – 47 % of new loans to firms are currently in euros. nevertheless, this channel is also gradually cooling as the ecb raises its rates. the volume of new euro loans to firms fell by 16 % in january – april. the decline in demand in the economy is documented by the following indicators : household consumption, which is crucial for the future course of demand - pull inflation, fell for the sixth consecutive quarter and is below the pre - covid level. the saving rate is now 21. 7 % ( data for 2022 q4 ), while the long - term average is 12 %. the decline in demand is also illustrated by the fact that prices of new apartments are already falling quarter on quarter. i want to emphasise that there is no wage spiral in the economy. the average nominal wage rose by 8. 6 % year on year in q1. nominal wages increased half a percentage point more slowly than expected in our may forecast, which expects inflation to return to the target in the first half of next year. the average real wage fell by 6. 7 %, decreasing for the sixth consecutive month. for comparison, the average wage at the cnb used to be linked to inflation. however, we managed to renegotiate this with the trade unions, and the average wage at the central bank rose by 4. 5 % this year. we are thus setting an example, not least by showing that inflation clauses can often be changed by agreement of the two parties. these are steps that can be taken to avoid a wage spiral. the decline in real demand means that the economy is below potential output and we have a negative output gap. interest rates are slowing growth in the quantity of money in the economy. inflation pressures are fading as a result. in the speech at the university of economics and business, i also mentioned two problems that are and will continue to be relevant : ( 1 ) the cnb's large balance sheet and ( 2 ) government debt. 3 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches regarding the cnb's large balance sheet, over the last ten years, interest rates were too low, in fact zero for a long time. in addition, in early 2017, interventions led to an increase in the cnb's balance sheet within four months, or rather in the banking sector's liquidity. it increased from czk 1, 300 billion in december 2016 to czk 2, 300 billion in april