1323; and Angelini E., A. Dieppe, B. Pierluigi (2013), Learning about wage and price mark-ups in euro area countries, ECB Working Paper No 1512. 14  See Gomes S., P. Jacquinot, M. Pisani (2010), The EAGLE. A model for policy analysis of macroeconomic interdependence in the euro area. ECB Working Paper No 1195. 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  studies done for other countries.15 The simulations exclude the reforms that enhance total factor productivity, which I mentioned earlier. These would further add to the impact on GDP and employment. To conclude, Portugal can already count on key achievements in labour and product markets that were thought impossible only a few years ago. The support of its European partners has been and will remain instrumental in this process. Structural reforms always take time to have their full beneficial impact on the economy. Having entered the second half of the adjustment programme, these benefits should increasingly become tangible. I do not underestimate the pain that these changes inflict. But they are necessary in order to lay the foundations for robust and sustainable growth. Growth-oriented policies are no substitutes for fiscal and external adjustment: they are mutually reinforcing. If designed in a way that reduces rents and fights vested interests, they will not only improve the efficiency of the adjustment process but also its equity, to the benefit of the poorest, the youngest, and of future generations. They will support medium to long-term growth and therefore employment and fiscal sustainability.
In countries where the banking sector has experienced large balance sheet shocks related to deteriorating sovereign debt, access to bank credit has tightened substantially. Elevated risk premia in the stressed countries have in turn had repercussions on access to finance, in particular for SMEs. In contrast, large corporations can resort to corporate debt instead of bank loans, especially during financial crises, or to foreign loans instead of domestic loans in the case of large multinationals, as happened, for instance, in Ireland.12 SMEs employ around three-quarters of the euro area’s workforce and they generate around 60% of its value added. Their restricted access to finance in a number of euro area countries is clearly a threat to economic recovery. A number of governments, including Portugal’s, are implementing measures to support the financing of SMEs. We see these measures together with the use of EU financial instruments (EIB and EU structural funds) as very important in unlocking access to funding and investment growth. The ECB has  9  See Blanchard O., D. Leigh (2012), Global Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers, IMF Working Paper No 13/1. 10  See Roeger W., in ‘t Veld J.