on the establishment of the brics bond fund to support the development of local - currency bond markets in the other brics countries, and a stocktake exercise on financial technology as it relates to crypto - assets and the regulation thereof. finally, and very significantly, the brics central banks have, for the first time, conducted a test run of the cra with an actual transfer of funds. this exercise commenced on 3 july and was completed successfully today. 2 brazil, russia, india, china, south africa page 3 of 6 building strong institutions on the african continent is also very important to support development and improve the continent ’ s resilience to shocks. the sarb – through its chairing of the association of african central banks and as the chair of the committee of central bank governors in the southern african development community – has been involved in a number of activities in support of economic and financial integration on the continent. these initiatives have spanned, among other things, the areas of banking supervision, strengthening central - bank independence, regional payment systems, financial - market deepening, financial stability, and financial inclusion. other issues that require urgent attention include the negative impact of the withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships on trade flows and remittances, as well as the limits to domestic revenue mobilisation due to illicit flows. the south african economy south africa ’ s growth outlook remains challenging. at the most recent meeting of the sarb ’ s monetary policy committee earlier this month, the growth forecast for 2018 was revised downwards to 1. 2 % from 1. 7 % in may. the growth forecast for 2019 is 1. 9 % and 2. 0 % for 2020, both of which are significantly lower than the levels required to generate employment and to reduce inequality and poverty rates. while we consider the current monetary policy stance to be broadly supportive of the economy, inflation risks are to the upside, and our fiscal framework is vulnerable. faced with similar conditions back in 1996 under nelson mandela ’ s leadership, the south african government had to make some really difficult decisions. it was resolved to make the required policy choices and strengthen macroeconomic institutions. this garnered investor confidence and placed south africa on a strong economic footing in the early 2000s. recent research conducted by the sarb3 suggests that the collapse in the levels of confidence over the past few years had shaved off around 1 percentage point from 3 theo janse van rensburg and erik visser, 2017, ‘ decoupling from global growth – is confidence becoming

mandated to jointly promote the development of an islamic banking and finance system in the country. this has been further strengthened with the passage of the republic act no. 11439 – an act providing for the regulation and organization of islamic banks in 2019. this law marks an important milestone in the country ’ s islamic finance journey which started in as early as 1973 with the establishment of the philippine amanah bank. even back then, the philippines has been one of the first muslim - minority countries to recognize the importance of islamic finance. the bank eventually became the al - amanah islamic investment bank which, to date, is the only islamic bank in the country. the newly enacted law aims to bring forth the full potential of what the country has started in 1973 as an early mover in islamic financing – that is to promote real socioeconomic development in muslim mindanao through islamic financing. republic act 11439 is envisioned to facilitate the development of islamic financing in the country by allowing other domestic and foreign islamic banking players, either full - fledge islamic banks or islamic banking windows, to operate. as regulator, bsp envisions a system that accommodates islamic finance within a flexible but secular unitary framework. licensing framework for islamic banks will be anchored on that for conventional banks with supplementary prudential requirements that recognize the inherent characteristics of islamic banking and finance, particularly compliance with shari ’ ah principles. to level the playing field and provide an opportunity for more players, the framework provides conventional banks to offer compliant products and services through business units or windows that take into consideration shari ’ ah parameters and compliant mechanisms particularly the separation of funds. in addition, this legal framework awards non - muslim investors the opportunity to invest and diversify their portfolios. bsp, together with the other members of the interagency technical working group on islamic banking and with the support of our development partners, will work toward ensuring that the legal framework is effectively implemented through appropriate rules and regulations. as mandated by the law, government will also endeavor to achieve neutral tax treatment between islamic banking transactions and equivalent conventional banking transactions. beyond our regulatory goal of promoting stability and level playing field, bsp is committed to support the growth of the islamic banking industry in the country. under its amended charter, bsp is empowered to institute reforms and issue enabling policies to ensure that the islamic banking industry receives appropriate liquidity and other financial support. with all these developments, i am optimistic about the future of islamic finance in the country. we now have the much awaited and