The players should seize the opportunity to increase interactions towards finding the right partners and exploring strategies and that are able to capitalise on tax incentives and other operational flexibilities accorded under MIFC to position Malaysia as an international centre of origination and issuance of Islamic financial instruments, fund and wealth management, Islamic financial activities in international currencies and takaful and retakaful businesses. Thirdly, KLIIFEX 2006 also provides opportunities to present relevant, pertinent and timely information on Islamic finance to different levels of key stakeholders. In the era where customers are becoming more discerning and demanding greater product differentiation and value added services, it is imperative for the Islamic financial institutions to provide information that is beyond the features of the specific product. The information must be timely, easily comprehensible and at an appropriate depth so as to comply with the disclosure requirements required under the corporate governance practices for Islamic financial transactions as well as to facilitate comparability of products by the consumers. It is our collective responsibility to enhance the public's understanding and appreciation on the features of Islamic banking and takaful products and the Shariah wisdom associated with them. All players need to capitalize on these initiatives for the financial industry to achieve sustainable success and unleash the potential gains of the Islamic finance in Malaysia and abroad. I wish that the KLIIFEX 2006 and subsequent years will be the platform to fully realise the essence and aspirations and propagations that I have mentioned earlier.

In the last few months, we have seen slight upward price movement with both headline and core inflation rates turning positive since the fourth quarter of last year. Currently, headline and core inflation for February 2010 are at 3.7 and 0.3 per cent respectively. The turnaround was due to a combination of the base effects from oil prices and the pick-up in domestic demand. Looking ahead, with the firming economic recovery, inflationary pressure is expected to increase further, with core inflation forecasted to surpass the midpoint of our target range of 0.5–3.0 percent by the end of the year. Thus, it is clear that in the near term, policymakers need to perform a delicate balancing act that would at the same time ensure a continued growth momentum, the anchoring of inflationary expectations, and the containment of potential financial imbalances. In light of the solid fourth-quarter GDP figures and January’s economic indicators, the current extraordinary accommodative monetary policy stance will be of less need for the Thai economy. Furthermore, an over-extended period of low interest rates can lead to heightened inflation expectations or financial imbalances such as asset price bubbles, as this crisis has vividly demonstrated in many countries. To this end, the timing of monetary policy normalization will be important so that it will not jeopardize economic recovery particularly as private investment has yet to pick up enough pace. Thus, I would like to assure you that, we will put our best effort in considering its timing carefully.