The main goal of monetary policy is to maintain price stability. This is of course not an end in itself, but a means to an end. A non-inflationary climate facilitates the free play of market forces and keeps socially damaging developments at bay. Fiscal policy must, basically, aim in the longer term to balance the public budgets. As with monetary policy, it is a question of steady, ongoing efforts. This should be no surprise, considering that the whole spectrum of public sector activities is reflected in the public budgets. This in turn raises the question of what services the state should perform, who should pay for them and how public-services can most efficiently be provided. Where competition policy is concerned, the aim is to create conditions conducive to the free play of market forces. In recent decades, it has unfortunately not always been possible to gain consensus support for the idea of free competition, which is still regarded with scepticism and suspicion by many people. Provided that free competition is able to develop in a stable environment, there can be little doubt that it is the best means to assure optimal use of available resources. When things go wrong, it is generally due not to the principle of free competition itself but to the lack of a stable environment. I would like to stress once again that the task of creating a stable economic framework is a never-ending one: it is a question of constantly working towards - but never actually reaching - the intended goal.
Mr. Meyer addresses the competitiveness of financial centres from a Swiss perspective Address by the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, Mr. Hans Meyer, at the International Bankers Club Luxembourg, held in Luxembourg on 23/3/98. Both Luxembourg and Switzerland are major financial centres in Europe. The performance and competitiveness of the financial services industry are thus of key economic and social importance to both countries. I should like to use this opportunity to say a few words on the subject from what may be a somewhat unusual perspective. The factors which determine the competitiveness of an industry are basically the same as those determining the success of the entire economy. In both cases, we are looking at a multitude of quite diverse factors with varying degrees of importance. Today, I would like to single out just three of them which I believe are of particular significance: economic stability, social equilibrium (i.e. political stability), and the human factor. Although each of these elements could be dealt with separately, they should ultimately be viewed in a broader context. Let’s start with economic stability. I define this as a state of balanced development across the economy as a whole, characterised by steady growth, a modest inflation rate and low unemployment. One of the main prerequisites for achieving such a state is the ability not only to create but to sustain an appropriate economic framework. This is primarily an objective for monetary policy, fiscal policy and competition policy.