rules and practices governing bank supervision, financial accounting principles, payment systems and policies and standards on statistics. a number of national laws are also being harmonised. however, there have been delays in realising targets set out in the eamu road map and that there are several challenges that could further impede the full implementation of eamu protocol. it is therefore imperative that we assess the realism in the timelines embedded in the eamu road map and do things right. going forward, i want to re - iterate bou ’ s full support to the eamu process. i fully believe that there are huge pay - offs for our economies if we harmonise and integrate our monetary, financial and payments systems, even before we actualize a single currency system for the community. may we work steadily towards the realization of the eamu. thank you for your attention. page 2 of 3

include low - income households who are disproportionately affected by rising price pressures. the rise in food prices in particular, has affected this group to a larger extent. improvement in employment for women and youth is also significantly slower. indeed, rising prices is a global phenomenon. for malaysia, the direct impact from elevated oil prices to headline inflation has been largely dampened by price controls on fuel and essential food items. yet, there are still indirect effects from high global commodity prices, as they are a key driver of the rise in producers ’ input costs. inflation developments in malaysia this year reflect the pass - through of some of these costs, as well as the strengthening of domestic demand. consequently, although headline inflation is still projected to remain low and stable and range within 2. 2 % to 3. 2 % in 2022, core inflation increased to an average of 2. 2 % in the first six months of 2022 compared to 0. 7 % in 2021. with the economy now on a firmer growth trajectory and no longer in a state of crisis, bank negara malaysia ( bnm ) through the mpc in may and july this year judged that it was the right time to begin withdrawing the excess monetary support, raising the opr from its historical low of 1. 75 %. what ’ s important is that by acting pre - emptively, we will be in a position to undertake adjustments to the monetary policy settings in malaysia in a measured and gradual way to avoid hindering economic recovery. importantly, this is also to restore conditions that will support sustainable growth over the medium and longer term. to this end, the timing, pace, and extent of rate increases will be guided by assessments of how the evolving economic and financial conditions domestically and globally would affect our inflation and growth outlook. let me emphasise that monetary policy in malaysia continues to be accommodative to support a sustainable economic growth in an environment of price stability. bank negara malaysia also continues to use the tools at our disposal to ensure movements in the ringgit are orderly, in an environment of aggressive monetary policy tightening by the us federal reserve. the us dollar index is up 11. 5 % this year, its highest in two decades. relative to the dollar, most major and regional currencies – including the ringgit – have depreciated. however, the ringgit has remained broadly stable when compared against currencies of our major trade partners. in fact, malaysia's