although the integration of the world economy began a long time ago, a significant acceleration occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. this is seen in the trends in international capital flows and in the financial markets to an even greater degree than it is in foreign trade. [UNK] however, a gigantic step is now being taken with the introduction of a single currency in a large part of the global financial market. the fragmentation into many national capital markets, a phenomenon which is particularly apparent in the case of the bond markets and which has arisen as a result of the existence of different currencies ( and therefore of different interest rates ), will be a thing of the past. the national markets in europe will compete with each other more intensively than they do now. they will gradually lose the specific national features that they now have. the large cross - border euro capital market will accelerate the trend towards globalisation. this will encourage processes of concentration and yet provide opportunities to specialise in market segments which need a particularly intensive degree of management know - how. the volume of transactions on the future euro bond market will approach the size of the undisputedly dominant us market today. if today ’ s us market is about six times larger than the german market, it will only be about 1. 6 times larger than the euro market. the euro will take over the role of the d - mark. the tripolar world capital market consisting of the dollar, the euro and the yen is gradually emerging. the depth and breadth of the euro market, which will be greater than the depth and breadth of the present national markets, will become more attractive to internationally operating customers for and suppliers of capital. in contrast to the situation in the united states, we will have several sovereign issuers in one single currency area. this competition with respect to creditworthiness need not be a disadvantage. the greater attractiveness of the european market will increase its efficiency and the professionalism of the market players. what does all of this mean for the german capital market? with the loss of the d - mark, germany, and particularly the german bond market, will lose a major competitive advantage. the currency which has been the anchor for the european monetary system and which over a period of some decades has become the most important investment and reserve currency after the dollar will disappear. we have been trying for some years now to make up for the approaching loss of the competitive advantage we have as a result of the d - mark. the german capital market had to be

sada reddy : impact of the global crisis on fiji ’ s economy presentation by mr sada reddy, deputy governor of the reserve bank of fiji, to the fiji employers federation, suva, 12 november 2008. * * * outline the outline of my presentation is as follows : • global economic conditions • impact of the financial crisis on fiji ’ s economy • summary global economic conditions • according to the latest international monetary fund ’ s world economic outlook, the “ credit crunch ” or “ liquidity crisis ” that first erupted with the us sub - prime mortgage 1 collapse in mid - 2007 has entered a new troubled phase in the recent months, unfolding as the “ 2008 financial crisis ”. regarded as the most severe shock since the great depression of the 1930s, the impact has been felt across the global financial system, and is expected to result in a major downturn in the world economy. • intensifying solvency concerns have badly shaken confidence, pushing the global financial system to the brink of meltdown, leading to emergency resolutions in the major advanced economies. stock markets across the globe have fallen significantly and money and credit markets have frozen, causing severe stress in financial systems and resulting in the failure of several large financial institutions in the united states and europe. the financial crisis together with high energy and commodity prices is pushing many countries, including the most advanced economies, to the brink of economic recession. concerted efforts by central banks and governments to mitigate the crisis, has seen financial rescue and economic stimulus packages amounting to billions of dollars being implemented. • consequently, in its november 2008 forecast, the imf revised its global growth projection down to 3. 7 percent from 3. 9 percent for this year. the imf further revised the 2009 world growth projection down to 2. 2 percent from the earlier projection of 3. 0 percent. we therefore expect our major trading partners to have a sluggish outlook for the next two years. emerging economies, like china and india, are also expected to experience some slowdown in growth but will continue to experience relatively high growth rates and may provide some stability to global growth. another term for high risk loans. economies australia new zealand us * eurozone * japan * china * india * singapore south korea 4. 2 3. 2 2. 0 2. 6 2. 1 11. 9 9. 3 7. 7 5. 0 2008 ( f ) 2. 5 0. 6 1. 4 1. 2 0. 5 9. 7 7.