Even though budget adjustments may curb economic growth in the immediate future, they will help ensure the sustainability of public finances and lower the risk premia of sovereign bonds. We must reverse the growth in debt burden and establish a framework which would support market confidence in the sustainability of public finance management in euro area countries. This is the common interest of all euro area Member States. 3. Alongside crisis management measures, we must lay emphasis on ensuring stability in the long perspective. To ensure an outlook for growth, we must implement structural reforms to enhance economic flexibility, competitiveness and employment. 4. The key task of the Eurosystem central banks, including Eesti Pank, is to ensure general price stability in the euro area. This should be the principle goal of monetary policy and the main mission of the central bank in its efforts to facilitate economic growth and create jobs. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  [CONCERNING ESTONIA] 1. Unlike several other euro area countries, Estonia had no need to engage in local crisis management in 2011. 2. The Estonian economy showed notable adjustment ability against the backdrop of the uncertain environment. Our annual economic growth (7.6%) was the fastest in the euro area. Moreover, the economic developments were far more balanced than before the crisis: the current account was in a moderate surplus and domestic price pressures remained subdued.
Petroleum and luck is, however, not the whole story behind the high per capita income in Norway. We have also been successful in seizing the opportunities that have been offered by changing international environments. The foundations for the Norwegian welfare state were established some two hundred years back in history. Long-term economic developments The Napoleonic Wars, which tormented Europe in the early 19th century, brought some great changes to the face of Europe. Norway took this opportunity to adopt a constitution and establish a number of central governmental institutions, including a central bank. Norway was severely hit by the economic crisis that followed the war, and around 1820 Norway’s GDP per capita was lower than in many comparable countries. In the second half of the 1820s, a new period of economic expansion started. The upturn gathered momentum from the middle of the century. An event which had a considerable impact on Norwegian shipping and economic history took place in 1849 when England repealed all navigation acts regulating the right to transport goods to and from England and its colonies. BIS Review 22/2006  1  This new and more competition-friendly trade environment spurred a rapid build-up of the Norwegian commercial fleet. Norway suddenly became a major exporter of services. As the chart shows, the tonnage of the Norwegian commercial fleet increased almost six-fold from 1850 to 1880. By 1880, Norway had built up the world’s third largest commercial fleet.