In fact, while the institutional arrangements for payments vary enormously from one country to another, it is remarkable how similar the debates are in each of those countries. I will be dealing with some of those issues today.
Let me open this seminar with brief remarks on the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy, which also explains the Bank of Finland’s strong interest on the issue. GDP growth in the euro area turned out to be unexpectedly sluggish in the fourth quarter of 2018, and recent indicators point to substantially weaker than expected activity also in 2019.