pension fund is mvr10. 6 billion. the monthly active contribution per active contributor is mvr 654, while the average value of retirement savings 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches accumulated per member is mvr77, 058. looking at the population dynamics of the maldives, we have a disproportionately large share of the population in the youth age bracket. while we can enjoy the benefits of a large youth population today, this also implies that within 35 to 40 years, this group of people will become retirees and the payouts from the pension fund will increase dramatically. also, we have made remarkable progress over the years with regard to life expectancy. the life expectancy at birth in 2016 was 77 years, which is contrast to just 49 years in 1976. this means that the average maldivian lives 12 years beyond retirement. aligning this figure with the retirement pension savings of approximately mvr77, 000 translates to just over mvr500 per month during postretirement years. once inflation is accounted for, the future value of the payouts will be lower still. therefore, if the status quo is maintained, we will have an ageing population expected to live increasingly longer, and the bulk of the social welfare burden will still be on the government. there are issues that this poses that we need to start addressing now in order to prevent future economic and social issues. we need to reap demographic dividends of the large youth population now in order to mitigate this. after touching on the potential for rising government expenditure, i would like to briefly talk about how we are financing that expenditure, especially in times when large scale infrastructure development projects are ongoing. the right mix between alternative sources of financing is important. exclusive reliance on debt could be problematic for a country like the maldives, especially in the medium to long term when the repayments fall due. also, debt denominated in foreign currency brings along the additional issue of foreign currency convertibility for repayment. there is also a revaluation risk should there be any changes to the value of maldivian rufiyaa. the sovereign development fund, which is intended to be a sinking fund to ensure our capacity to meet future foreign currency obligations incurred to execute public sector development projects, is a good initiative to mitigate the risk. however, the underlying issue of rising debt levels remain unresolved. therefore, striking the right balance between alternative means of financing is essential. attracting

##ocurrency, it has long been understood that cryptocurrency has been a somewhat attractive form of payment instrument for money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion. now, what are those features? anonimity : the anonymity surrounding cryptocurrencies, prevents transactions from being adequately monitored, allowing shady transactions to occur outside the regulatory perimeter. cross - border nature : transaction occur cross - border, and are nearly instant in the network and are confirmed in a couple of minutes. since they happen in a global network of computers, they are completely indifferent of any physical location. there are no third parties involved in verification or validation. no gatekeeper : the software that everybody can download is for free and there is no centralized coin issuer or an intermediary to oversee the coin trading activities. anyone can receive and send cryptocurrencies as soon as a cryptocurrency software is installed without being monitored by a central government authority. due to these factors, countries are concerned about the misuse of cryptocurrency, especially to launder proceeds of crime, fund terrorist activities and evade taxation. in a recent report by a data security company, ciphertrace, $ 761 million has already been laundered via cryptocurrencies so far this year. therefore, international organizations such as the imf and eu are advocating for regulating cryptocurrency, despite challenges such as anonymity, cross - border nature of use cryptocurrency, lack of central intermediary to regulate, etc. in february 2018, ms. christine lagarde, head of imf said in an interview on cnn that due to the potential illicit use of cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency regulations are inevitable. her remarks echoed the initiatives of countries to bring cryptocurrency into a regulatory framework to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. in april 2018, the parliament of the european union passed changes to anti - money laundering legislation that will impose new regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches operating in europe. the us has already extended its aml regulatory framework to cryptocurrency. other countries include, australia, canada, japan, mexico and switzerland. therefore, it is important to recognize the role cryptocurrencies play in the financial markets, and to start thinking about allowing emerging technologies to have a level playing field in