and gentlemen ; now that i have dwelt on the desirability and virtues of good governance, and the expanded role of the accounting profession in strengthening good governance, let ’ s examine how the domestic governance framework benefited the country and the domestic banking sector generally at the time of the global recession. without fear of being contradicted, i can confirm that the domestic banking system escaped the first round of the direct adverse effects on asset quality at the time of the international financial crisis. the reason for this can be found in the robustness of the regulatory and supervisory framework. for instance, board and senior management of banks are vetted before appointment, and care is taken to ensure that appropriate decision - making structures and related committees are in place, including adequate risk management and mitigation strategies. the regulatory framework also ensures that lending practices are devoid of conflict of interests ; and consultations are undertaken with external auditors in a bid to ascertain operational and financial propriety. without the rigorous enforcement of strict regulatory requirements, the banking sector would have been saddled with unbearable problems of, among others, nonperforming assets. the less - than - severe impact of the global recession on the country ’ s economy vindicated the importance of good economic and financial governance over the years. without the careful and prudent budgetary and overall management of the country ’ s resources, it would not have been possible to implement the fiscal stimulus that moderated the severity of job losses. over time, botswana has been able to avoid the so - called “ resource - curse ” ; this is the inverse relationship between the vastness of resource endowments and a country ’ s level of socio - economic prosperity. inflation has, by and large, been relatively low and well managed ; thanks to the benign inflationary environment at a global level. honoured guests, i conclude by underscoring the importance of the need to redouble efforts in strengthening the existing governance infrastructure and redressing the inadequacies. history must not be allowed to repeat itself so far as the ravages of the financial and economic crises are concerned. needless to add, the accounting profession has a lot to offer in this endeavour. indeed government entities and the corporate world need accounting skills more and more each passing day. i have no doubt that you will respond with added enthusiasm and renewed sense of duty. it is now my honour to declare the 6th biennial international conference of the botswana institute of accountants officially open. i wish

strong downward pressure. many facilities were damaged by the disaster, and the production and distribution of manufactured goods came to a standstill. in contrast with the so - called “ evaporation of demand ” seen after the lehman shock, this time it was constraints in supply that severely affected the economy : industrial production for march 2011 fell by 15. 5 percent on a month - on - month basis, the largest one - month drop on record. in this situation, business and household sentiment deteriorated, and spending declined. as a result of strenuous efforts by the parties concerned, supply chain disruptions were subsequently speedily resolved and economic activity picked up at a pace faster than widely expected immediately after the earthquake. production and exports almost recovered to their pre - quake levels in summer 2011. bis central bankers ’ speeches just when some positive signs were on the horizon, japan ’ s economy encountered new challenges, namely, the slowdown in overseas economies and the appreciation of the yen, both stemming from the european debt problem. together with the effects of the flooding in thailand, the developments led to a gradual slowdown in the pace of increase in exports and production, and both exports and production have been more or less flat recently. domestic demand, on the other hand, has been firm mainly due to reconstruction - related demand after the earthquake. private consumption has firmed up in part because of a recovery in demand, which had been temporarily subdued mainly reflecting the disaster, and because of a surge in new car sales due to the boost provided by government subsidies. business fixed investment for now continues to be on a moderate increasing trend, aided by the fact that full - fledged rebuilding efforts such as efforts to restore and reconstruct disaster - stricken facilities as well as efforts to strengthen the earthquake resistance of existing structures are now getting underway, although some exporting firms that have greatly revised their profit forecasts downward might restrain their investment in the future. public investment is also expected to gradually expand with the implementation of large - scale rebuilding projects now getting underway, given that local governments in disaster areas have been making progress in the development of reconstruction plans. although there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the outlook, japan ’ s economy is expected to return to a moderate recovery path in the first half of fiscal 2012 as the pace of recovery in overseas economies picks up, led by emerging and commodity - exporting economies, and as reconstruction - related demand after the earthquake gradually strengthens. according to the bank of japan ’ s forecasts released in january 2012