on the flip side, lower productivity means that goods and services will become relatively more expensive over time, which makes it more difficult to reduce inflation. finally, a significant part of the consumer price index ( cpi ) – the'basket'of goods and services that people buy, includes goods and services for which the prices are regulated by the government. these include ppv fares and utilities. in this regard, large and unpredictable regulated price adjustments complicate the job of the central bank in 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches containing inflation. bank of jamaica remains committed to pursuing measures to improve the transmission mechanism to facilitate greater and quicker pass - through of policy rate adjustments in the banking system. the correspondence between the minister and the central bank on the inflation target has been published on the bank's website. i will now speak on the mpc's recent decision. monetary policy decision the bank's monetary policy committee ( mpc ) met on the 16th and the 17 th of may and announced the decision yesterday, to maintain : ( i ) the policy interest rate at 7. 0 per cent ; ( ii ) relative stability in the foreign exchange market ; and ( iii ) tight jamaican dollar liquidity conditions. this decision reflects the committee's view that while inflation is continuing its downward trend, it is still not yet firmly anchored within the target range and the risks to future inflation are skewed to the upside. statin reported on wednesday last week that jamaica's annual headline inflation rate at april 2024 was 5. 3 per cent, which is within the bank's target range and lower than the rate recorded at march 2024. the bank is encouraged by this outturn which represented the third consecutive month of lower inflation and the second consecutive month in which annual inflation was within the target range. the april 2024 outturn was also lower than the bank's most recent forecast, mainly due to a faster than projected deceleration in agricultural food inflation. core inflation, which excludes food and fuel prices from the consumer price index, was 5. 7 per cent and although elevated, it was marginally lower than the outturn recorded in march 2024. some of the key drivers of headline inflation, such as international grain prices and inflation expectations continued to decline. inflation in the economies of jamaica's main trading partners has also continued to moderate. however, international oil prices have been volatile. despite the encouraging outturns at march and april, the declining inflation is

to further enhance the competitiveness of our banks and step up our supervisory efforts, the hkma commissioned a large - scale consultancy study of the local banking sector. the study was completed in 1998 and the recommendations contained in it are being carefully considered by the hkma. ( e ) hong kong continues its participation in international financial activities in accordance with the provisions in the basic law 19. the basic law provides that the hksar may, using the name of “ hong kong, china ”, maintain and develop financial ties with different countries and regions. this includes entering into and implementing multilateral and bilateral financial agreements, setting up overseas official and quasiofficial financial representative offices, and handling external financial relations. 20. following the handover, hong kong has become even more active in the international financial scene. in addition to further developing co - operation with regional central banks, the hkma has strengthened its ties with multilateral and international financial institutions. in september 1997 the annual meetings of the international monetary fund / world bank were staged with great success. as the first major international event in hong kong after the handover, the meetings became an important landmark in hong kong ’ s financial history. in 1996 both hkma and the pboc were admitted to the bank for international settlements ( bis ) in their own right. since then, hong kong has begun to play an active role in the activities of the bis, including attending its regular meetings and participating in committees focusing on global financial issues, in particular, the committee on banking supervision and the committee on payment and settlement systems. in july 1998, the bis established in hong kong its asia pacific office, which is also the bank ’ s first overseas office. in addition, hong kong continued to attend the annual meetings of the asian development bank, international monetary fund and world bank, as well as maintaining close technical co - operation with these bodies. since the outbreak of the asian financial turmoil, the issues of financial stability and new global financial architecture have become increasingly important. in addition to voicing our views on these topical issues under the name of “ hong kong, china ”, hong kong has also actively participated in the lending arrangements organised by international financial agencies. in 1998, we cochaired the g22 working group on transparency and accountability and actively promoted the disclosure standards in both public and private sectors. at present we have been invited to attend the bis committee on global financial system and its working group meetings. while the above underscore hong kong ’ s status as