our overall economic stability, and to buy some time to allow a smooth transition. let me be clear that we intended for the reserve requirement to be a temporary measure, designed to preserve financial stability and to afford the real sector time to adjust to a more volatile market condition. to this end, i believe that it has succeeded. to be sure, no measure is without its costs. the reserve requirement resulted in a wide - ranging effect on the market and the economy. in light of this, once the appreciation momentum was broken, we have been carefully modifying the coverage of the measure to allow greater flexibility for business operations. we have done this without compromising the needs to contain excessive volatility. that is, we have provided the option to fully hedge for loans and debt instruments. at the same time, we expect ongoing relaxations on capital outflow to bring about a better balance between inflows and outflows. the unwinding of global imbalances will remain with us for the foreseeable future. during the transition, monetary policy can and must play a vital role in supporting the economy in its adjustment. and should the balance of risk shifts from inflation to growth, monetary policy will continue to focus on stability while supporting long - term economic expansion. ladies and gentlemen, the second challenge comes in the form of high and variable oil prices. as the global economy grows, so does its thirst for energy. an importer of oil, thailand continues to be vulnerable to a sharp oil price shock that could abruptly exacerbate our current account. more importantly, as one of the most oil - intensive economies in asia, the high price of oil can create a substantial price pressure and the risk of persistent inflation. the continued expansion of china and india suggests that oil prices may rise yet again in tandem with the global economic cycle. nevertheless, increased productive capacity of oil suppliers and technological progress, which will enable us to decrease our reliance on oil over time, should dampen the impact in the medium run. i have so far outlined the main challenges on the external front. but the key question remains : how will the bank of thailand meet these challenges and attain the goal of ensuring low and stable inflation as well as a resilient, well - functioning financial sector that is able to intermediate efficiently between savers and investors? this leads to my second point. before we grapple with global imbalances and high oil prices, we must first realize that the key factors underlying these challenges are

that's also important to me for my work. germany has the largest population and the largest economy of all the eu member states. if you understand the language, you gain a profound understanding of how the people think. because of their language, the germans are more direct than the french or the english. for instance, simply saying " no " in french or english is always somewhat more complicated! but the most recent french criticism of the ecb's stability policy has been distinctly direct. in the presidential election campaign, both the conservative candidate nicolas sarkozy and the socialist segolene royal argued that the ecb should, for example, do more to support economic growth. i will only remind you that, by the will of the french democracy, the banque de france was made independent from french politics before the establishment of the ecb, with a primary mandate for price stability. to allow the central bank to become independent, both chambers of the french parliament changed the constitution of general de gaulle with a three - fifths majority. it rather looks like people in your home country have forgotten that. certainly not the people, who, according to surveys, are firm supporters of our independence. in any case, the maastricht treaty calls for the full independence of the central bank. under the treaty, governments are not even allowed to try to influence the ecb. nevertheless, would it not be better for the ecb to be a little more flexible and – like the federal reserve – react more strongly to the needs of the economy as a whole? our mandate is unambiguous. our primary objective is price stability. and price stability is a necessary condition for sustainable economic growth and job creation. the central banks of nearly all industrialised and emerging countries have policies based around the combating of inflation, and that is precisely what our fellow citizens want. the americans present things in a different way, but they too consider that price stability is a necessary condition for sustainable economic growth and job creation. most finance ministers of the euro area countries and the european commissioner for economic and monetary affairs joaquin almunia want regular discussions with the ecb. does that bother you? the treaty already arranges for precisely that. i myself invite jean - claude juncker and joaquin almunia twice a month to attend the meetings of the governing council at the ecb, and i am invited to attend the meetings of the eurogroup. as i have always said, we have to apply the whole treaty