of the world economy. the sustained robust growth in emerging economies has increased the demand for raw materials which has led to the elevation of their world market prices. this has fuelled inflation the world over. domestically - generated inflationary pressures in advanced economies have so far been held in check by economic slack, as reflected, for example, in low employment and capacity utilisation rates. there are a variety of explanatory factors behind the rapid growth of emerging economies. imports of more sophisticated technologies and better models of production have boosted productivity growth. in addition, their economic policy institutions have been upgraded and economic policy has become more coherent. a strengthening of protectionism in different parts of the world, which was feared during the crisis, remained relatively limited. world trade has expanded rapidly since the crisis, the bis central bankers ’ speeches volume already having reached the pre - crisis level. world trade growth is also expected to continue in the years to come, albeit at a more moderate pace than in 2010. more divergence in europe a large part of europe continued to recover last year despite widely reported difficulties encountered by peripheral european countries, [ slide 4 ]. the divergence in economic performance between the countries became increasingly apparent. while germany and its neighbouring countries experienced robust growth, the economies suffering from the debt crisis contracted or grew only very slowly. however, the growth decelerated towards year - end from the exceptionally high rates observed earlier in the year, as the temporary impetus from inventory replenishment, which had fuelled growth in the early part of 2010, began to recede. simultaneously, the strong export growth also began to lose momentum. nevertheless, growth in new export orders picked up again in the last months of the year, and survey results point to firms ’ expectations of a rebound in export growth in the early part of 2011. consumption growth has been curtailed by high unemployment. differences in unemployment rates between the countries are very large : in the netherlands, the unemployment rate is slightly over 4 %, compared to more than 20 % in spain as the average of the euro area is slightly under 10 %. europe will continue to see sluggish economic growth in the coming years, as most european countries have to reduce their public deficits. underlying the robust economic growth of the largest european economy, germany, is the strong pull of exports, enabled by continued strong competitiveness, which has lifted business confidence indices to all - time highs. despite expectations, germany ’ s robust growth has not yet spilled over

njuguna ndung ’ u : the future of financial service delivery in kenya remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the opening of the 3rd afraca central banks ’ forum, kenya, 9 may 2011. * * * the deputy prime minister and minister for finance, honourable uhuru kenyatta ; the afraca chairman and deputy governor, central bank of congo ; the secretary general, afraca ; governors of central banks here present ; representatives of banks, microfinance institutions and other financial institutions ; distinguished guests and participants ; ladies and gentlemen : i am delighted to be with all of you here in mombasa to make some brief remarks at this very auspicious 3rd afraca central banks forum. i am here to welcome the deputy prime minister and minister for finance to officially open this forum, but before doing that, i wish to make a few remarks. on behalf of the central bank of kenya which is co - hosting this forum with afraca, let me extend a very warm welcome to all delegates to kenya and in particular to mombasa, a spectacular tourist town. it is my sincere hope that you will enjoy your stay in kenya and will also find time during the forum or after to sample kenya ’ s tourist attractions. ladies and gentlemen : afraca organizes this bi - annual central banks forum as an avenue for afraca member central banks and other regulatory bodies to share experiences on workable solutions towards enhanced agricultural and rural financing as well as to challenge each other on possible policy solutions to increase agricultural and rural financing. in this regard, the forum serves to further afraca ’ s vision of “ achieving a rural africa where people have access to sustainable financial services for economic development ”. the theme of this forum ; “ financial services for food security : leveraging on innovation ” is quite timely and anchors well with the emerging trend whereby most of the agricultural land is being urbanized as well as the drastic climatic changes arising from global warming, which are posing a serious threat to food security for the future generations. time to generate solutions to curtail this trend is now. but from our end, we focus on financial support investment to increase productivity in the sector. although kenya ’ s two financial access surveys conducted in 2006 and 2009 have shown general improvements in financial access with access to formal finance improving from 19 to 23 percent ; to semi - formal improving from 8 to 18 percent ; informal declining