However, in general terms, we take note of this delayed growth and also the difficulty of reducing the unemployment level in France which, despite starting to fall very recently, is struggling to dip below 10%. So there is a need for labour market reform and reform of the services sector, as that is where jobs are created, as well as a need to be more ambitious in opening up the 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  services sector, for example the regulated professions. In addition, and this is a message that might not please people in France, but it’s my duty to say it – reforms are also needed in terms of fiscal balances. French debt is approaching 100% of GDP, and the deficit is still above 3%. So you are issuing a warning to those candidates, whoever they may be, that are saying they are willing to let deficits slip above 3%. Yes, we must...  That’s unacceptable. The candidates for the French presidential election, whoever they may be, shouldn’t think that, when they take office, they will find a pot of money to spend or room for budgetary manoeuvre. This room for manoeuvre doesn’t exist and there is a risk that interest rates will rise. If and when interest rates begin to rise, the debt burden will increase and the risk is that it will crowd out all other government spending. Benoît Cœuré... It’s a risk.
Real short-term interest rates were reduced around the world, following a nearly decade long secular decline in inflation rates, a slowdown in growth at the turn of this decade and subsequent deflation. As central banks raised their policy rates when the outlook improved and deflation risks had dissipated, both real and nominal long-term interest rates remained anomalously low. Global savings appeared to rise faster than did perceived real investment opportunities, and this development helped to push down real long-term interest rates around the world. At the same time, many emerging market economies built up very large levels of official reserves to reduce external vulnerability and to hold the value of their currencies stable against the dollar. The exchange rate policies in these economies – economies that together accounted for a increasing share of global GDP – made overall global financial conditions more accommodative, even as the United States and other countries tightened their monetary policies. Expected and realized volatility in both debt and equity markets were remarkably low for most of the last half a decade. Term premiums declined and remained low over much of this period. Credit spreads across a wide range of asset classes fell to levels that assumed unusually low levels of future losses. In the United States, credit, and mortgage credit in particular, expanded relative to GDP.