*  *  *  Mr. President of the Republic Heinz Fischer, Prime Minister Christian Kern, Dear President Mario Draghi, Ladies and gentlemen, It’s a great pleasure for me to welcome you today to the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank and we are very grateful and proud that such an eminent audience has followed our invitation to this celebratory event.
This is particularly evident in the following areas:   The very high level of sovereign debt and the stalemate between the major political parties on raising the legal debt ceiling and addressing the fiscal issues;    The difficulties in the housing and real estate markets which are having a marked and negative impact on the pace of the recovery;    The high level of unemployment which is now at approximately 9 per cent; and    The significant impact of these factors on consumer spending which is the main driver of the American economy.