e., lopez - gonzalez, j., marceau g. and so, r. ( 2024 ) “ a song of data flows and trust. a quantitative analysis of cross - border data flow regulation ” wto - oecd working paper presented at the bank of italy ’ s g7 roundtable on 3 june 2024. financial stability board ( 2022 ), “ stocktake of international data standards relevant to cross - border payments ”. oecd ( 2023 ), “ key issues in digital trade ”, oecd global forum on trade 2023 ; wto, oecd, unctad, imf ( 2023 ), “ handbook on measuring digital trade ” ( 2nd edition ). borgogno, o. and m. savini zangrandi ( 2024 ), “ chinese data governance and trade policy : from cyber sovereignty to the quest for digital hegemony? ”, journal of contemporary china. rivalries ( including about technology ), and other tensions that show no sign of abating, have all been factors. 10 this trend can touch digital trade. for example, the ongoing joint initiative on e - commerce at the wto, which the us had strongly supported, has now seen retrenchment. 11 i do not need to underline the importance of global digital trade patterns. the economic rise of some countries ( think of india ) has been linked, among other things, to their ability to supply technical and professional services remotely. is this trend going to continue, and how? the topic is not explicitly on today ’ s agenda, but i believe that it will be in the background of many of your discussions. my third and final point concerns artificial intelligence. everybody has seen the near - vertical trend in the use of llms such as chatgpt, as well as the surge in ai - related stock valuations. this is not the place even to start discussing the innumerable social, economic, political, technical and philosophical issues that surround ai. let me just draw your attention to yet another trade - off, which is highlighted by the bubbling, but far from homogeneous, growth in ai regulation. how does one reconcile the protection of privacy, intellectual property and other basic rights ( which appears to require more regulation ) and the promotion of vibrant innovation ( which often appears to require less )? while the legal framework is still evolving, different jurisdictions already seem to be balancing the pros and cons

##ties. turning to the monetary analysis, the annual growth rate of m3 declined to 1. 7 % in december 2010, from 2. 1 % in november. the annual growth rate of loans to the private sector also declined, albeit marginally, to 1. 9 % in december, after 2. 0 % in november. these declines partly reflect the reversal of special factors that operated in november and do not indicate a general weakening of monetary dynamics. overall, however, broad money and loan growth is still low, confirming the assessment that the underlying pace of monetary expansion is moderate and that inflationary pressures over the medium to long term should remain contained. looking at m3 components, annual m1 growth moderated further to stand at 4. 4 % in december 2010, reflecting the prevailing low remuneration of overnight deposits. at the same time, the yield curve has steepened somewhat further, implying that the attractiveness of short - term instruments included in m3 continues to decline compared with more highly remunerated longer - term instruments outside m3. on the counterpart side, the annual growth rate of bank loans to the private sector continued to conceal differences in the magnitude of growth across sectors. the growth of loans to non - financial corporations stood at – 0. 2 % in december, after – 0. 1 % in the previous month, while the growth of loans to households strengthened to 3. 0 % in december, after 2. 8 % in november. taking into account the effect of derecognition of loans from bank balance sheets and looking through short - term volatility, the latest data confirm a continued gradual strengthening in the annual growth of lending to the non - financial private sector. at the same time, the latest data point to the overall size of bank balance sheets having contracted again after expanding for most of 2010, mainly on account of a reduction in lending between banks. it is important that banks continue to expand the provision of credit to the private sector, in an environment of increasing demand. to address this challenge, where necessary, it is essential for banks to retain earnings, to turn to the market to strengthen further their capital bases or to take full advantage of government support measures for recapitalisation. to sum up, the current key ecb interest rates still remain appropriate. we therefore decided to leave them unchanged. taking into account all the new information and analyses which have become available since our meeting on 13 january 2011, we continue to see evidence of short - term upward pressure on overall inflation