Dear participants The productivity and the quality of work are major determinants of life quality, affecting nutrition, health and education, social protection, and fair treatment. Jobs are particularly important for the poor, whose labour is often their only asset and a primary route to poverty eradication. It is for this reason, that we at the central bank recognise skills development as an economic imperative. This is because it increases productivity of economic agents. Chairperson In the aftermath of the recent global financial crisis of 2008, employment has re-emerged as a top priority area across the world. A large and growing young population can be a driver for economic growth and social progress provided they access quality education and health, and are engaged in decent employment, without which, many young people will not be able to escape negative social vices and poverty. In recognition, of the foregoing, the National Budget for 2013 whose theme is; “Delivering Inclusive Development and Social Justice” has for the first time put job creation at the centre of its development agenda by explicitly targeting the creation of 200,000 jobs in 2013. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Sectors targeted for these jobs are agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and construction (including infrastructure). Ladies and gentlemen Sustained efforts to bring in private investment coupled with supportive public policies and investment, would contribute to enhancing productive capacities and generating the much needed jobs in our country.

Intrinsic strength of Islamic finance Islamic finance has, thus far, remained positive, despite the current challenging global financial environment. The strengths in Islamic finance are derived from the Shariah principles, the key pillar of Islamic finance that has contributed towards its overall stability and resilience. The Shariah injunctions require that the financial transactions be accompanied by an underlying productive activity thus giving rise to a close link between financial and productive flows. In addition, under the risk sharing arrangement, the Islamic financial institution will share the profit or loss incurred by the entrepreneur. Under this arrangement, there is an explicit risk sharing by the financier and the customer and the real activity is expected to generate sufficient wealth to compensate for the risks. This arrangement, thus, entails the appropriate due diligence and the integration of the risks associated with the real investment activity into the financial transactions. In addition, the Shariah principles also prohibit excessive leverage and speculative financial activities thus insulating the parties involved from excessive risks exposures. The intrinsic principle of profit and risk sharing thus provides an in-built check and balance to the Islamic financial transactions. Explicit in this arrangement is the element of risk management and governance practices. Hence, it is a modality in which there is strong explicit emphasis on the economic viability of the underlying assets and on good governance, ethics and transparency. A demand-driven industry with growing potential This decade has seen the global Islamic finance industry evolve from being faith-based to a business driven industry for all communities.