Many Asian economies rebounded quickly and strongly from the crisis. Following the onset of the crisis, policymakers in Asia took prompt actions to stabilise their economies, using measures such as fiscal stimulus. In Singapore’s case, our fiscal flexibility allowed the government to introduce a $ billion resilience package in the FY2009 budget to help Singaporean businesses and households tide over the economic difficulties. This also helped strengthen our economy’s long term competitiveness. 5. Starting from a relatively stronger position, Asia’s role in the global economy will become more important as we continue to build on our strengths. Looking ahead, Asia’s economic prospects look promising, although the region is still at risk from external shocks. The IMF estimated that GDP growth for Asia will settle at a more sustainable 7 percent in 2011. However, Asia as a region remains inter-connected with other major economies through trade and financial linkages. Therefore, Asia is not insulated from external shocks. But Asian foreign policymakers have been quick to respond. To reduce reliance on exports, many Asian countries have taken measures to rebalance their economies towards domestic demand. The growing Asian demand will help support the global economic recovery; and in the longer term, contribute to the growth of our global economy. 6. Going forward, it is widely expected that Asia will continue to lead the global recovery. Investors are confident of Asia’s prospects due to sound economic fundamentals and fiscal strength. The booming Asian economies will present many investment opportunities.

This fear of counterparty default dented global trading and interbank lending activities. To allow market participants to better manage their counterparty risks, the Singapore Exchange launched a new clearing service for OTC financial derivatives in 2010. This is the first such service in Asia. 10 international and local banks have since signed up with SGX to clear their OTC financial derivatives, and there are intentions to expand the product suite going forward. This initiative also enhances our role as a regional risk management centre. 9. In May last year, MAS published a consultation paper on amendments to the Code on Collective Investment Scheme. Among other things, there are proposals to introduce a number of measures to address counterparty risks. For instance, MAS has proposed that managers may only enter into OTC financial derivative transactions with counterparties subject to prudential supervision. If the financial derivative transaction is performed on an exchange where the clearing house performs a central counterparty role, the counterparty risk can be taken as zero. MAS will be publishing its response to the consultation paper in due course. 10. Singapore is also a key risk management hub for the commodities business. We are Asia’s leading OTC commodity derivatives trading hub, accounting for more than 50% of Asia’s volume. There is also a confluence of users and suppliers of commodities risk management solutions in Singapore. Apart from the critical mass of global commodities traders, many global banks have also based their Asian commodities business in Singapore.