I would like to thank the organizers of this conference on the Italian economy for inviting me to open the discussion. My thanks also go to Ambassador Varricchio for hosting us in such a beautiful venue, and for his kind words of welcome.
Today's conference centres around three words - companies, banks and global challenges - which, in my view, are the key elements for understanding the dismal growth performance of our economy since the late nineties, its exceptional difficulties during the double recession, its recent recovery, and its prospects for the future.
In my remarks I will start by mentioning one important challenge that the whole advanced world is facing, and which affects our economy too: policy uncertainty. I will then focus on the Italian economy, looking at it from a longer perspective. Finally, I will touch on the Italian banks.