. this the imf concurred and in its report said specifically that “ it is important to recognize that allowing interest rates to rise in response to exchange market pressures is an essential element of the currency board mechanism that lies at the heart of hong kong ’ s monetary arrangements. recent events demonstrate that the system is working exactly as intended......... “ 21 review of currency defence 34. we have also been prudent over the years in strengthening our monetary system through a series of monetary reform measures. these were not crisis induced, but were put together in quiet times after careful consideration and consultation. i would not wish to bore you with further technical details, other than to say that these reform measures implemented in the past ten years, inconspicuous they might be at the time of introduction, have each proven to be most useful and effective in ensuring the stability of our currency under rather stressful conditions. 35. notwithstanding this, we have taken advantage of the occasion arising from the currency attack last october to conduct yet another review of our currency defence to see if there is still room for improvement. we have met with many of those who have a keen interest in this area, including the academics, the analysts and the bankers. and i have personally been in correspondence with the imf and a couple of nobel laureates. the review was completed in january this year. i am pleased to say, first of all, 20 the poll was conducted by asian commercial research limited and its results were published in sunday morning post on 7 december 1997. 21 concluding statement of the imf article iv consultation discussions with the people ’ s republic of china in respect of the hong kong special administrative region dated 4 november 1997. - 10 that there was unanimous support on the hong kong dollar ’ s link with the us dollar. no one thought that it should be abandoned. and we have received a few suggestions on how we should improve upon the operation of our system. we welcome these discussions which have sharpened our own thinking in the process of debate and analysis. whilst one or two of these idea may have some psychological but possibly only short term value, they also carry considerable downside risks of undermining confidence in a well tried system. i am also pleased to say, therefore, that we have indeed been quite thorough in our monetary reform in the past ten years. ( a ) role of interest rates 36. one school of thought promoted by a group of academics in hong kong with specific proposals for

haga clic aqui para escribir texto. 01. 03. 2018 developments in the economic situation asociacion espanola de directivos, santa cruz de tenerife luis m. linde governor introduction let me begin by thanking the tenerife asociacion espanola de directivos for their kind invitation to me to join you today. the european environment i shall devote my address to the current situation of the spanish economy. i will begin by highlighting the favourable cyclical juncture at which the euro area – the economic environment closest to us – stands. the upturn in which the euro area economy is immersed may be classified as robust and dynamic, and extensive to all productive sectors and countries. the euro area economy began to show signs of strength in the closing months of 2016, and these stepped up in the second half of last year. as a result, gdp at the close of 2017 was growing at 2. 7 %, a rate not seen since the start of monetary union and one significantly above what was expected a year earlier. these figures comfortably exceed the potential gdp growth estimates for the area as a whole and thus contribute to erasing the negative output gap generated by the crisis. one of the characteristics of the current expansionary phase is its intensity in terms of job creation, meaning that the euro area as a whole has now exceeded pre - crisis occupation levels. wage restraint and the reforms carried out in some countries have been conducive to the vigorous response by employment to economic growth. the euro area - wide unemployment rate has fallen to 8. 7 %, compared with levels close to 13 % at the height of the crisis, although there are substantial cross - country differences, ranging from an unemployment rate below 4 % in germany to 20 % in greece and 16. 5 % in spain. moreover, a balanced pattern of economic growth can be seen. adding more recently to the momentum of private consumption, the sole engine of growth of the start of the recovery, has been the dynamism of business investment. low financing costs, the sound performance of final demand and high capacity utilisation are enabling investment to pick up to pre - crisis levels. however, factors persist that might restrict medium - term investment projects, including most notably low potential growth expectations, the adjustment of balance sheets and the correction of high corporate debt levels still under way, and the problems that are creating political uncertainty. euro area exports, boosted by more buoya