In the economic area, we must create the human and material conditions to promote appropriate growth, while keeping unemployment and inflation low. With regard to the human factor, the necessary qualification must be coupled with an adequate motivation. This motivation can be enhanced by an appropriate macroeconomic environment. A gradual development of economic and social activities seems appropriate, since this is the only way to ensure the necessary identification of individuals with the community. 1  BIS Review 106/1999  Economic situation In the course of this year, prospects for economic recovery in Switzerland have been improving, bringing to an end an unusually long period of stagnation. The human and material costs of this stagnation are of course regrettable. The causes for this period of stagnation are manifold. First, one has to bear in mind that it followed years of marked expansion. Other, more general reasons are the consequences of our past labour market policy, which helped to maintain existing structures, as well as of insufficient competition in the domestic economy. Last but not least, an already high level of achievement made it increasingly difficult to provide the necessary punch for change. The need for structural changes as well as the necessity to tackle remaining problems from the past – notably in the construction sector, in agriculture and tourism – along with the repercussions of a weak global economy, have led to a temporary decline in growth. A sustained process of adjustment, but also favourable monetary conditions have subsequently contributed to improve prospects.
But this certainly requires strong supervision, effective cooperative oversight arrangements, and setting up the right incentive structure so that CCPs don’t lose sight of public interest, starting with the interest of their indirect members. Let me conclude. Central clearing will make the global financial system safer. However, it also has the potential to redistribute risk. Its overall systemic effect will thus depend on the incentives for risk-taking and central clearing that accompany risk redistribution. Hence the need for the official sector to provide the right incentive framework ex-ante, produce data that can help understand the distribution of risk, and tightly supervise CCPs in a spirit of cooperation across jurisdictions. Thank you for your attention. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5