mr. george looks at the prospects for the city of london - in or out of emu speech by the governor of the bank of england, mr. e. a. j. george, at the royal institute of international affairs conference in london, on 24 / 10 / 97. prospects for the city - - in or out of emu mr. chairman, you have asked me to speak specifically about “ the prospects for the city - or out of emu ”. you - - very kindly in recent circumstances - - did not ask me to discuss the wider pros and cons, either of the project as a whole, or of uk membership. but perhaps i might nevertheless begin by making a more general point. perfectly reasonable people can legitimately disagree about emu, both in principle and about the appropriate timing and pace of monetary integration. on the project as a whole, most analysts would acknowledge that there are real potential benefits, but that there are also real risks to be set against them ; and most would acknowledge that those risks will increase if the politics of emu are allowed to run ahead of the economics, so that countries are allowed, or even encouraged, to participate, without first having achieved genuine, and sustainable, economic convergence - - in substance and not just some technical accounting form. on the question of british membership the new labour government has spoken of ‘ formidable obstacles ’ to this country joining emu in the first wave. but one thing is clear : everyone, in or out, has an unambiguous interest, if emu does go ahead, in doing everything we can to make it a success. and it is equally clear that those countries that participate in monetary union have a similar unambiguous interest in the economic prosperity of countries remaining, at least for the time being, on the outside. larry summers, the deputy secretary of the us treasury, writing about emu in the financial times on wednesday, said : “ the us is well served when europe is vibrant economically and working to open its markets and strengthen its ties with the global economy. ” he might have been speaking for all of us here in europe, in or out, recognising that we have a mutual, and reciprocal, self - interest in each other ’ s economic well - being. so my general point is this. whatever the outcome on emu, it is vitally important that we continue to maintain, and strengthen, positive and constructive relationships throughout the european union area - -

mervyn king : monetary policy developments speech by mr mervyn king, governor of the bank of england, at the lord mayor ’ s banquet for bankers and merchants of the city of london at the mansion house, london, 17 june 2009. * * * my lord mayor, mr chancellor, my lords, ministers, aldermen, mr recorder, sheriffs, ladies and gentlemen, it has been quite a year. a year to remember, but not to repeat. since we last met, a financial panic swept through markets in september, several major financial institutions failed, and a remarkable collapse of confidence around the world led to unprecedented declines in industrial production and national output. world trade fell by almost 15 % in six months, a faster rate of decline than in the great depression. faced with this crisis, the bank of england took extraordinary actions. bank rate was cut virtually to zero, and the monetary policy committee embarked on a programme of £125 billion of asset purchases. and in your own businesses you too have had to deal with what some have called a once - in - a - century event. since the panic last autumn, overall output has fallen by around 3 % in the united states and the united kingdom, 6 % in germany, and 7 % in japan. the collapse of spending in these economies is having painful consequences. in less than a year, over 5 million jobs have been lost in the united states, almost 2 million in the euro area, and almost half a million here in the united kingdom. despite those unprecedented falls in activity, there are some signs that the british economy is beginning to stabilise, and financial markets have improved markedly. there are three solid reasons for thinking that a recovery in activity was likely to occur at some point this year. the first i call the “ honda effect ” – many firms, as honda did last year at its plant in swindon, cut back production and met demand from stock, resuming production this year once inventories had been reduced. the second factor is the level of sterling which, despite its recent rally, is still some 20 % lower than in the summer of 2007. that will encourage a switch in spending, at home and abroad, towards goods and services produced in the uk. finally, and perhaps most important, is the enormous policy stimulus that has been injected into the economy. bank rate was cut by four percentage points in four months. but the monetary policy committee judged that even that was insufficient to prevent inflation falling below our 2 %