The Banque de France was the first to start a programme of eight experiments on a wholesale CBDC, notably with a number of Fintechs, to improve the functioning of the financial markets and institutions. If necessary, the Eurosystem could decide to issue a retail CBDC to ensure the general public have access to central bank money, especially in countries where cash payments are in decline. The ECB has created a high-level task force whose report we published ten days ago. We will now launch a public consultation, starting today, examine all regulatory and technical issues, and begin experiments at the national central banks – the Banque de France will contribute actively to this. Between now and mid-2021, the Eurosystem will decide whether to launch a project for a digital euro, which would start with an investigatory phase. And while we’re on the topic, let me just comment on the terminology used: you sometimes hear people talk about cryptocurrencies, but the term is a contradiction. You either have a currency, with all its functions and a public guarantee, or private crypto-assets. But there is no such thing as a cryptocurrency. 3/ A European mobilisation on private payment infrastructures thanks notably to the involvement of the major European banks in the European payments infrastructure (EPI) project. It is crucial that we go beyond the current national systems, and offer cross-border solutions together with a pan-European brand. There is no contradiction between the CBDC and the EPI. We could very probably need both.
However, indicators still pinpoint to existence of significant gaps compared to EU-28 in this area. Improvements in fiscal institutions, fiscal rules, public-private partnership, foreign financing partly in form of grants, improvements in public investment management frameworks are some of the possible “remedies” that might generate improvements in the infrastructure in the CESEE region. When it comes to the private sector, the focus has been put on innovative companies, which can fill the gaps in more sophisticated investments that can elevate the potential growth of the economies. Given the more limited access to banking finance for this corporate segment, alternative sources of financing are being explored, which requires concerted policy and private sector action in further and stronger development of financial markets and mobilizing available finance in a more efficient way. Bibliography 1. Transition Report 2015-2016 “Rebalancing Finance”, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 2. Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe - How to Get Back on the Fast Track?, Regional Economic Issues May 2016, International Monetary Fund. Winds of Change: Investment in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, European Investment Bank, September 2017. 3. The Western Balkans: Reviving up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity, World Bank Group, 2017. 4. Report by the Working Group on Capital Markets Union, 2018, London. 5. Iorgova, S., Ong L.L., (2008), “The Capital Markets of Emerging Europe: Institutions, Instruments and Investors”, IMF working paper No. 08/103, International Monetary Fund. 6.