conditions. of course, monetary policy cannot be the only game in town : other policymakers must display the same commitment to ensuring a sustainable economic recovery. structural reforms can play a key role in turning the cyclical recovery into a structural recovery and the current low interest rate environment makes it politically and economically easier to implement them. such reforms, if carried out now, will help to promote favourable economic conditions down the road. 1 see ecb bank lending survey, january 2017, and ecb survey on the access to finance of enterprises in the euro area, april 2016 to september 2016. 2 for more detailed discussion of the phillips curve and low inflation in the euro area economy, see praet, p. “ maintaining price stability in the euro area ”, remarks at the 15th handelsblatt jahrestagung “ zukunftstrategien fur sparkassen und landesbanken ”, berlin, 2 february 2017. 3 for further discussion, see “ recent wage trends in the euro area ”, box 2, ecb economic bulletin 2016 / 03. 4 see, for example, “ wage dynamics amid high euro - area unemployment ”, deutsche bundesbank monthly report, december 2016. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

and overall economic development interests. central banks, therefore, monitor developments in the payment systems to assess their impact on the demand for money, monetary policy and financial system stability. in many of the saarc countries and elsewhere, the central banks have been playing multifaceted roles like operators, owners, facilitators, regulators, overseers, users and service providers of their national payment systems. through these roles, central banks have acquired expertise, skills and in - depth knowledge on the role of the payment mechanisms in the financial system and the economy. we need to make use of this expertise and share it with others in the region and elsewhere. a regional payment initiative would be a vehicle which would help to achieve this objective. central banks can advise on payment related financial policy and act as effective catalysts, together with private sector organizations, in initiating, promoting and contributing to payment system reforms. by and large, payment reforms, be it national or regional, have been promoted and led by central banks, except in few countries like canada where the private sector initiative has been significant. the central banks in the saarc region also have the ability to play the leadership or catalyst role by providing policy directions, preparing roadmaps in consultation with other stakeholders and guiding national and regional payment system reforms and taking the responsibility to develop a common payment policy framework acceptable to all countries in the region. we need to pay attention to the existing regional clearing mechanisms as well. as in the case of the asian clearing union ( acu ), if there are delays in processing payment instruments, combined with official accounting practices for payments that give rise to a float on the balance sheets of the central banks, that will contribute to inefficiency and uncertainty in the payment process. it is significant to note that such inefficiencies can extend to the central bank ’ s monetary operations and liquidity estimates as floating acu balances cannot be treated as part of the international reserves of member central banks. lack of clarity about rights and responsibilities regarding funds on the move is another shortcoming, especially where processing systems and accounting procedures result in long delays between the time a payment instruction is issued and the time it is cleared and settled. both at national and regional level, supervision and oversight of payment systems have always received less attention compared to the supervision of banks and financial institutions. when there are cross border payments and common clearing and settlement mechanisms, it is important to ensure that there is a well - designed supervisory system. the supervisors