Let me particularly welcome • Professor Marcel Fratzscher, President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and Professor Adam Tooze from Columbia University; • as well as my central bank colleagues • Senior Vice President Linda Goldberg from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; • Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska from the Republic of North Macedonia; • Deputy Governor Leonardo Badea from Romania; • Governor Madis Müller from Estonia; • Governor Boris Vujčić from Croatia.
Liquidity inflows from other European countries were the third factor contributing to balance sheet growth, reflected in an increase of € billion in the TARGET2 claim on the ECB to a total of € billion. The TARGET2 claim has thus risen by 27% over the past 12 months.