likely to be very large increases in the prices that households pay for gas and electricity. to control inflation, the board has already increased interest rates substantially. we moved in large half percentage point increments for four months, but at this and the previous meeting, we returned to more standard quarter percentage point increases. the earlier large increases were required to move interest rates quickly away from their pandemic levels to address the rapidly emerging inflation problem. but as interest rates moved back to more normal levels, the board judged that it is appropriate to move at a slower pace while we assessed the data, the economic outlook and the impact of the rate rises to date. we are conscious that interest rates have been increased by a large amount in a very short period of time and that higher interest rates affect the economy with a lag. if we are to stay on that narrow path, we need to strike the right balance between doing too much and too little. the board's base case remains that interest rates will need to go higher still to bring inflation back to target and our forecasts have been prepared on that basis. we are not on a pre - set path, though. if we need to step up to larger increases again to secure the return of inflation to target, we will do that. similarly, if the situation requires us to hold steady for a while, we will do that. given the uncertainties regarding the outlook, we will be watching very carefully how the economy and the inflation pressures evolve over the summer. finally, while it is interest rates that keep the reserve bank in the news, i hope that you know that we do a lot more than just set interest rates. we are the banker to the australian government, so we process all social security payments, tax payments and medicare refunds. we also operate the core of australia's payments system. when you send money from your bank to another bank it goes through the reserve bank. we also operate a central part of australia's 24 / 7 real - time payments system. i hope that you all have a payid, so that you can take best advantage of this technology. if you don't have one, i encourage you to go get one. 3 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches we also print australia's banknotes. it comes as a surprise to many people just how many banknotes are in circulation. the total value of notes on issue is over $ 100 billion a€ “ that's around $

ewart s williams : launch of aic mutual funds keynote address by mr ewart s williams, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at the launch of aic mutual funds, 25 july 2005. * * * thanks to the management of aic financial group limited for inviting me to present the keynote address on the launch of your family of funds, and sincere congratulations on this achievement. these are very exciting times for the financial sector and indeed for the economy of trinidad and tobago. you must have seen that a few days ago, standards and poors raised the country ’ s credit rating from bbb to the coveted a - category. that upgrade has as much to do with the strength of our financial system as with the stance of our macro - economic policies. all over the world, banking is undergoing rapid transformation - firstly, because of the forces of globalisation which have resulted in the elimination of barriers to trade and financial flows ; and secondly, because of advances in information technology which have facilitated the delivery of financial products and services at sharply reduced costs. there is now a worldwide trend towards the formation of larger banking units through mergers and acquisitions, and these larger units are leveraging technology to transform both wholesale and retail financial markets. another dominant trend is the universalisation of banking which is blurring the boundaries between bank and non - banking services. while at a somewhat more measured pace, banking in trinidad and tobago is also undergoing rapid changes. following financial sector liberalisation in the early 1990 ’ s and bolstered by a decade of robust economic growth, our banking system has expanded rapidly and has adopted new products and technologies, as well as many of the strategies of the more mature markets. total assets of the banking system have increased by one and a half times over the past decade. and even with this rapid expansion, the main financial stability indicators have remained very strong. nonperforming loans have come down markedly from 10 percent to just over 2 percent ( close to international standards ), capital adequacy ratios are well above minimum requirements ( as is necessary for a small resource - based economy subject to exogenous shocks ), and banks ’ profitability levels have soared over the last five years or so. some commercial banks have become universal banks offering banking insurance, securities, trading, leasing, and investment management under one roof. the conglomerate model is becoming more commonplace in the financial sector and the larger banks are pursuing aggressive regional growth strategies. regional expansion has provided additional growth opportunities to