2019. according to the estimates based on the statistics of the pbc and the cbirc, in the first 10 months this year, the financial system waive profits of around rmb1. 25 trillion in favor of the real economy, through channels including interest rate cuts, the two tools providing direct support for the real economy, fee reduction, and support for enterprises ’ restructuring and debt - for - equity swaps. it is expected that the annual target of profit cuts in the amount of rmb1. 5 trillion will be attained. next, the pbc will join hands with the cbirc and other relevant departments to resolutely implement the guidelines of the fifth plenary session of the 19th cpc central committee and the decisions and arrangements made by the cpc central committee and the state council, follow the people - centered approach, uphold the new philosophy of development, remain committed to deepening reform and opening - up, adhere to systemic views, keep unleashing the benefits of relevant policies, and continue to motivate the financial system to cut profits in favor of the real economy, so as to achieve the annual target and create favorable conditions for constructing a new development pattern and promoting high - quality development. thank you. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

( bis ) showed that nearly 90 % of all responding central banks are conducting some kind of cbdc research. of course, the south african reserve bank ( sarb ) is also looking into making its payments system future - proof. project khokha 2, for instance, aimed to explore the potential of tokenised money, blockchain and digital currencies. amongst other aspects, the sarb looked into a tokenised form of central bank money to conduct transactions between central banks. [ 2 ] however, when it comes to developing a retail cbdc, south africa prefers to be a “ very fast follower ”, as sarb governor lesetja kganyago phrased it, learning from other countries that are early adopters. in europe, the eurosystem – which comprises the european central bank ( ecb ), the bundesbank and the other national central banks in the euro area – is actively working on the possible issuance of a cbdc : a digital euro would be available for use by private end users and companies in the form of a retail cbdc. 2 why are we considering issuing a digital euro? but why are we considering issuing a digital euro? there are many possible motivations to introduce a cbdc and there is, in my view, no global “ one size fits all ” solution. it depends very much on the specific circumstances in the different countries. let me point out three motives for the euro area. first, we are considering the issue of sovereignty in payments. in europe, we are seeing new players enter the payments market with innovative business models and convenient applications for users. bigtech firms are leveraging their existing digital platforms with international customer bases to expand into new markets. but these payment solutions are typically run by companies with headquarters outside the european union. in addition, they often form a fairly closed ecosystem. this brings us to the legitimate question of whether we want to be heavily or even solely reliant on a few international players when it comes to making payments. in order to strengthen europe ’ s independence in payments, it might be worth developing our own solutions. as the ecb president, christine lagarde, [ 4 ] put it : “ ( … ) [ t ] he best insurance against a more uncertain world is building more resilience at home. ” with a digital euro, we would have a payment solution in public money for retail payments all across the euro area – under european governance. second, we have been seeing