*  *  *  Dear President, Dear Prime Minister, Your Excellencies, Dear Governor Iskrov, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great honour and a pleasure for me to be here this evening and to address you on the occasion of the 130th Anniversary of the Bulgarian National Bank.
I should like to start by thanking my colleague, Governor Iskrov for inviting me to do so. The Bulgarian National Bank has good reasons to proudly celebrate this historical date: The achievements during the last 130 years have been many. The Bulgarian National Bank, like most of the other central banks with a long history, did not arise as the institution we know today.