Honourable Minister and Distinguished Guests, the reason for this background is to highlight the fact that the Bank is alive to the development aspirations of the country and related challenges. Furthermore, within the confines of its role and  mandate, the Bank contributes to efforts to address the constraints to diversification and inclusive economic growth.
But – as I will explain in today’s speech – the struggles of banks are not innocuous from a monetary policy perspective given their integral role for monetary policy transmission and macroeconomic performance more generally. And the newfound financial resilience of the euro area banking system can only be sustained if it is accompanied by improved financial performance in the future.