On this occasion, a string of scientific and cultural events covering the whole year was organised, namely conferences on monetary issues, banking history seminars, exhibitions, stamp and coin issues, as well as cultural events reunited under the “The Cultural Days of the NBR” project inspired by the excellent cooperation with the European Central Bank in 2009. At this moment in its historical development, when the National Bank of Romania celebrates its 130th anniversary, the institution enjoys the status of a national central bank in the European Union. Our institution is a member of the European System of Central Banks and is currently making strenuous efforts for adopting the euro in the years ahead. If I were to find some key words to define the features of the National Bank of Romania, in fact what it stood for and what it still stands for today, these would certainly be the following: a sound, stable, trustworthy, reforming and dynamic institution. After 130 years, it is all the more relevant that the National Bank of Romania had its ups and downs, similarly to the history of Romania, which has also seen peaceful and progress periods followed by dramatic moments. The common denominator of all these was the fact that the National Bank of Romania has always provided support to the country in order to overcome the trying times. The institution we are celebrating today bore the brunt during World War One, having to cover all the related expenses.
Also, one of the lessons from the crisis was the need for higher financial literacy and awareness of financial risks, which among other things, required better tailored communication of statistics to different interest groups in society. Thus, in fact pandemics occurred in the midstream of our strivings to address the flaws in statistics revealed during the GFC. At the very beginning of the crisis, the official statistical process was threatened by a basic risk of disruption, so preserving continuity of statistics production was vital. Last year the World Bank conveyed a survey among National Statistical Offices to assess the initial impact of the health crisis on their functionality1. The key findings can be pinned down to several conclusions: 1) around 65% of the offices were fully or partially closed, and face to face data collection was stopped; 2) the ability to collect essential statistics and to meet international data reporting requirements was impacted, particularly in low income countries; 3) approximately two out of three national statistical offices altered their calendar of publication and data dissemination; and very importantly 4) many offices were adapting  1/3  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  and responding to new data needs by changing collection modes, using alternative data sources, adding Covid related questions, as well as reducing content and samples of Surveys. These challenges have been equally relevant for central banks, being one of the pillars of the statistical production systems.