than disable business. one such example is centenary bank which has successfully embedded its core religious foundation in its business model and yet maintained steady growth with a diversity of clientele and employees, irrespective of faith. ladies and gentlemen, ethics are crucial in the world of business. ethical business practises are essential if a business is to flourish in the long term and if the business sector is to command the support and confidence of the public. unfortunately, ethical standards in business often fall far short of what is desirable. this can be seen in the way in which businesses sometimes evade taxes and wilfully default on bank loans, contributions to the nssf or even paying salaries of employees. it is not uncommon for the owners and managers of businesses to divert business revenues or loans contracted by the business for their own personal use. to build a thriving market economy in uganda, dominated by private sector firms, major changes in the ethos and culture of business will therefore be necessary. unless businessmen and women conduct their business in an ethical manner, they will never build trust with their employees, their customers, their creditors and their suppliers. in the long term, trust is essential if businesses are to thrive, because a lack of trust raises the costs of transacting businesses and this makes it much harder for businesses to make profits. opportunities like securing funds through the capital markets cannot be optimised if we do not run our businesses ethically, with clear books of accounts and transparency. there are also opportunities in business partnerships to pool financial and human resources, and gain economies of scale ; to compete favourably for large scale projects. however these partnerships cannot be sustained without ethical practises and respect to contractual obligations. this event was termed as a networking dinner. networking in my view entails leveraging personal and professional contacts to grow the business through such avenues as securing a market for goods or products ; optimising each other ’ s knowledge and expertise including information on possible sources of funding or raw materials ; management competencies ; or access to skills. without a doubt, the church is best placed to teach us the key tenets of human relations such as accountability, self - respect and respect for others ; and taking into considerations the interest of others and not only our own as espoused in chapter 2 of philippians. i also think that the catholic church and its history teach businesses one critical thing – that is inculcating the vision, goals of the entity in each individual involved in the business or institution

, the current economic situation is likely to contribute to containing this upward pressure. at the same time, current monetary developments and other available indicators do not point to inflationary risks over the medium term. on the basis of this assessment the governing council decided to keep the ecb ’ s interest rates at their current levels. in addition to reviewing the main monetary, financial and other economic indicators, the governing council considered a report prepared by the ecb ’ s banking supervision committee on “ the effects of technology on the eu banking systems ”. the report assesses the extent to which technological developments have taken place and are expected to occur in the eu banking systems, the main categories of banking risks affected by these developments and the strategic responses that eu banks are devising. the governing council agreed to publish the report, which will be made available in due course.