support to the most vulnerable households and firms. but this support must be temporary and targeted. in particular, we need to avoid a general fiscal stimulus that amplifies current inflationary pressures or a permanent increase in fiscal imbalances that would weigh on public debt sustainability. in other words, consistency between fiscal and monetary policy is of the utmost essence. and beyond this immediate response to the crisis, governments need to look beyond the current juncture and press ahead with structural reforms to increase medium - term growth potential. in particular, they should focus on the green transition and rethink the functioning of energy markets. moreover, the most indebted countries should, with a medium - term perspective, reinforce the sustainability of their public accounts. a particular difficulty when designing policy responses in the current context is the extraordinary uncertainty and volatility currently surrounding the global economy, which generates risks of policy miscalculation and disruption to financial markets, and requires policymakers to stand ready to adjust policies depending on how the situation evolves. this is clearly how monetary policy is currently being conducted, with data - dependent decisions being made on a meeting by meeting basis, but this may be more difficult to achieve in the case of fiscal policy, given the longer implementation lags involved. from a more global perspective, economic policy - making is facing the challenge of increasing geopolitical tension. if this trend ends up triggering a scenario of runaway fragmentation, the consequences in terms of trade and financial flows, productivity, inflationary pressures, and ultimately economic activity would be very severe. with this in mind, it is not difficult to conclude that, amid the increasing risk of fragmentation in the international sphere, strengthening supranational policies and institutions, which support international cooperation, is more important than ever. i firmly believe that our multilateral system, with the necessary reforms and adaptations to the new circumstances, remains pivotal to global progress, as has been the case over the last few decades. in this respect, i believe that forums like this one are an example of fruitful international cooperation, insofar as they enhance regional cooperation and dialogue. the theme of this conference, building resilience in uncertain times : safeguarding financial stability, encouraging investments, is particularly timely. today we are going to debate a number of challenges that our countries are currently facing : from the role of central banks in the current uncertain environment to the reforms needed to improve the business climate in the region, as well as the impact of digital finance on

the credit information bureau. the group is also considering the suggestion given by bankers that information regarding the defaults of state governments be collected and widely circulated and published. yet another area critical for financial stability relates to several international initiatives were undertaken over the last couple of years with the goal of maintaining financial stability by strengthening the financial infrastructure. the rbi and sebi were members of one such task force on securities settlement systems constituted by bank for international settlements. the report has since been finalised and released by bis. an expert group is being set up by the rbi to examine the adherence to the recommendations in regard to government securities market in important areas such as legal risk, pre - settlement risk and settlement risk. efficient payment system is also very critical to meet the new challenges. the rbi has been engaged in the design and development of the payment system in india as part of the financial sector reforms. the broad objective of this process is to ensure the setting up of a robust, efficient, secure and integrated payment and settlement system for the country. the ultimate aim to be achieved in this regard is to ensure quick settlement of financial transactions, especially in an electronic environment based on a sound legal foundation. the rbi is addressing the task of drafting the indian payment system legislation considering among others issues, finality of payment / settlement in an electronic environment, issues of failure from bankruptcy and the formulation of the framework for the payment system act, the netting act and other related issues. to bestow focused attention, a payments systems department is being contemplated within the rbi by appropriate restructuring and retraining of the existing officers and staff. the functions of this department will include among other things, formulation of payment system policies, regulation of payment system, implementation of core principles of the bis relating to payment system, etc. finally, with regard to the financial sector, banks have always been concerned at the regulatory burden on them due to the crr requirement. rbi desires to move to a 3 per cent crr regime, but at the current stage, early movement can be considered only if it is a package and one of them relates to the present way of maintenance of cash balances by banks with the rbi. apart from this, as mentioned in an address yesterday, the time has come to take a hard look at the access of banks to call money. the call money window should be used to iron out temporary mismatches in liquidity and not on a sustained basis as a source of funding their normal requirements. an option to be discussed is