There is little, if any, policy co-ordination amongst Asian economies, not to mention any interest in monetary integration. It is not clear whether this is a reflection of reluctance to subject domestic policy decisions to external influence. Indeed, until recently the majority of the economies in the region seemed happy to concede their sovereign right over monetary policy to the central banks of their major trading partners, notably the United States, through maintaining a stable exchange rate against the US dollar by varying degrees. But whatever the reason for the relative lack of monetary co-operation in the past, there have been significant changes recently, spurred by the events surrounding Mexico which affected the region and those of Thailand which is right in the middle of our region. There is serious and continuing discussion on the subject of Asian monetary co-operation. Hong Kong stands ready to contribute to this discussion and I very much hope that a long term strategy could come out of this. History of Asian Monetary Co-operation 15. Let me now describe briefly to you the history of Asian monetary co-operation. In the post-war period, many Asian central banks evolved from colonial currency boards, which practised the virtue of stable money fixed to an international reserve currency. As a result of this monetary discipline, supported by sound fiscal discipline, Asia has enjoyed stable growth with low inflation.

Erdem Başçi: Recent economic and financial developments in Turkey Speech by Mr Erdem Başçi, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, at the press conference for the presentation of the October 2014 Inflation Report, Ankara, 31 October 2014. *  *  *  Original presentation is on the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey’s website: http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/ wps/wcm/connect/47fed704-6c8d-48a4-9fce-458bc4bad30b/ER_Ekim_2014_Konu% C5%9Fma_%C4%B0ngilice.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=47fed704-6c8d-48a4-9fce-458bc4bad30b  Distinguished Guests, Welcome to the briefing held to convey the main messages of the Inflation Report. I will now present an overview of the report, which will be published on our website soon. The report typically summarizes the economic outlook underlying monetary policy decisions, shares our evaluations on macroeconomic developments and presents our medium-term inflation forecasts, which were revised in view of the developments in the last quarter, along with our monetary policy stance. In addition to the main text, the report includes six boxes entailing interesting and up-to-date analyses on various topics. For example, the report presents boxes that analyze how the determinants of bond flows into emerging economies change over time and the sensitivity of inflation to output gap and loans. Moreover, there are studies elaborating on current account fluctuations and current account deficit corrections, non-core liabilities, the correlation between capital flows and loan growth across a wide range of economies and the role of macroprudential measures in the elasticity of loans to capital flows. Titles of the boxes are shown on the slide. All of these analyses shed light on noteworthy issues in the Turkish economy.