4  The figures are for 2017 and are taken from the World Economic Outlook Database April 2018, available on the website of the International Monetary Fund (IMF): https://www.imf.org/external /pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/index.aspx. 5 Kamikubo Satoshi, Hyōden, Nihon no keizai shisō, Shimomura Osamu, 'Nihon keizaigaku' no jissensha (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Hyouronsha Ltd., 2008), 227.
*  *  *  President, Honourable members of the European Parliament, I am very pleased to take part in this debate today. It forms a central part of the ECB’s accountability towards the European Parliament to which the ECB attaches utmost importance.