Mugur Isărescu: Regional economic outlook - Europe Opening speech by Mr Mugur Isărescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, at the conference "Regional Economic Outlook - Europe", Bucharest, 17 November 2017. * * * Your Excellences, Ambassadors, Members of the diplomatic corps, Ladies and gentlemen, Distinguished guests, It is my pleasure to welcome you to the National Bank of Romania. The Board and I are honored to host the presentation of an important IMF document, one of their flagship reports, namely “2017 Regional Economic Outlook Report”. It is a tradition for the National Bank of Romania to host this event and we are pleased to greet the presence of many foreign diplomats – this is a clear testimony of its importance. Allow me to extend a warm welcome to Mr. Jeffrey Franks, who has been a long-standing friend of Romania. Mr. Franks is a veteran of the Fund, who – over the last 25 years – has managed challenging assignments, including the resident offices in Ukraine and Ecuador, and has led teams in Pakistan, Romania, France, Belgium, and Paraguay. He was the IMF Mission Chief for Romania for almost 3 years, from 2009 till 2012. As many of you may remember, during his mandate as mission chief, Romania overcame a very difficult period, with the support of the IMF, WB and EC.
Øystein Olsen: Oil and the Norwegian economy – the challenges ahead Speech by Mr Øystein Olsen, Governor of the Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at a lunch hosted by Danske Bank Markets, New York City, 27 March 2015. *  *  *  Accompanying slides can be found on the Norges Bank’s website: Slides (PDF). It’s a great pleasure to be in New York City again and an honour to be invited to give a lunch presentation here today. As Norges Bank, a week ago, published its latest monetary policy report, the economic outlook and the considerations behind the interest rate decision naturally warrant some attention in my speech today. First, however, I would like to give some background information on the economic policy framework in Norway, focusing on the sovereign wealth fund – the Government Pension Fund Global – the fiscal rule and Norges Bank’s foreign exchange transfers to the fund. Norway is a small, open, natural resource-rich economy. About a quarter of our GDP is related to oil and gas extraction, and a large share of our petroleum production is exported. The oil and gas industry has played a vital role for the strong growth in our economy over the past 40 years. When the first oil was brought to the surface in 1971, GDP per capita in Norway was lower than the average for a western economy. The picture has reversed since then. We have gradually caught up to the wealthiest nations.