My third and final observation arises from the fact that, as the economy recovered in Ireland, the housing market took off rapidly, with property prices increasing by over 20 per cent in 2014, having fallen by more than 12 per cent just two years earlier (indeed, in January 2015, the Central Bank of Ireland introduced loan-to-value and loan-to-income limits to increase the resilience of the banking and household sectors to the property market and to reduce the risk of bank credit and house price spirals from developing in the future).
A special welcome goes to the IMF’s Managing Director Horst Köhler, who is going to take over the floor in a few minutes to continue with the opening address. I am very grateful to you, Mr. Köhler that you came to the official opening ceremony of the JVI, which we celebrated yesterday evening, and that you participate again in our East-West-Conference this year.