njuguna ndung ’ u : combating structural poverty amongst producers in africa remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the launch and celebration of solidaridad ’ s achievement of iso 9001 – 2008 certification, nairobi, 20 march 2014. * * * the solidaridad eastern and central africa expertise centre ( secaec ), was officially established in september 2008 in nairobi, kenya with the vision to be a regional leader in combating structural poverty amongst producers in africa and promoting social and environmental sustainability. – this is what i term binding constraints in our economies. its mission is to facilitate the smallholder producers to produce commodities in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable manner that ensures good market access, improved prices and high incomes for better quality of life. to achieve this, seceac is working in the eastern and central africa region, impacting over 400, 000 smallholder farmers in coffee, tea, livestock, horticulture and food security, cotton, gold and sugarcane. the 2008 world bank ’ s “ agriculture for development report ” recognized the enormous potential of agriculture in offering employment globally. seceac programs in kenya are also aligned to the achievement of vision 2030, which recognizes the agricultural sector as one of the key sectors within the economic pillars for the country ’ s economic growth. it envisages “ a food - secure and prosperous nation ”. regionally, the program targets to achieve six out of the eight millennium development goals targeting reduced poverty and hunger by half by the year 2015 ; promoting gender equality and empowering women through integrating gender issues in their projects, reducing child mortality, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development. secaec programs on these value chains are currently valued at 16 million euros, targeting improvement of productivity and quality for better incomes, with the overall objective of improving the livelihood of the smallholder farmers in the region. in achieving its goals and mandate, indirectly secaec are contributing towards the economy of the region through foreign exchange, creation of employment and empowerment of women and youth through programs designed to address gender and youth disparity. within the region and internationally, secaec has established a network of experts and consultants in all the value chains, working with a wide range of collaborators including key government departments. in public private partnership projects ( ppp ), the organization values the role played by both public and private institutions. notable partnership in the region has been with

account deficit of around 1, 8 per cent of gdp. import volumes increased by 3, 3 per cent in the final quarter of 2003 while the physical volume of exports of goods and services increased by 2, 2 per cent. however, the trade surplus in february and march of this year improved as a result of an increase in exports with the 3 - month moving average ( seasonally adjusted and annualised ) of the trade surplus increasing from r17, 6 billion in january to r20, 5 billion in february. the moderate deficit on the current account is not an immediate cause for concern. at these levels the deficit is sustainable and has been comfortably financed through significant inflows on the financial account, which showed healthy surpluses in the final three quarters of 2003. the surplus in the final quarter amounted to r34, 6 billion. however, there is no room for complacency. it is well known that financial account reversals can occur very quickly, and if expenditure growth proceeds unchecked, the current account developments could prove to be unsustainable. the higher levels of domestic expenditure have been reflected in more buoyant money market conditions. most of the money supply aggregates have grown at a relatively robust pace. the average twelve - month growth rate for m3 in 2003 was 13, 0 per cent, and grew by 14, 9 per cent and 14, 0 per cent in february and march respectively. twelve - month growth in banks ’ total loans and advances to the private sector has remained at levels of around 12, 5 per cent since early 2003. growth in mortgage, instalment sale and leasing finance has been particularly strong over the past year. 4. recent labour market developments the unemployment situation in south africa remains a major source of concern. fortunately, quarter - to - quarter increases in employment were recorded on both the public and private sectors during the final two quarters of 2003, reversing the trend of the previous two quarters. from a monetary policy perspective, a concern of the bank has been the trend in wage settlements, which play an important role in the inflation process in south africa. central to the bank ’ s concern is the fact that wage settlements often tend to be set in a backward - looking manner. this acts as a constraint of the downward movement of inflation. the bank would like to see wages and prices being set on the basis of the inflation rate that is expected to prevail over the period for which wages are being set. although wage demands