. 56 % of uk pound or 0. 51 % of japanese yen against the greenback. 2. real economy growth real economic activity has maintained its swift recovery trend since the second quarter of last year. the rate of gdp growth in the fourth quarter of 2008, just after lehman brothers ’ collapse, tumbled to [UNK]. 5 % quarter on quarter. however, economic growth swiftly returned into positive territory so that it registered 0. 2 % year on year for 2009 as a whole. a clearly - marked upward trend has been maintained also from the beginning of this year with quarter - on - quarter gdp growth coming in at 2. 1 % for the first quarter and 1. 5 % for the second quarter. among the oecd member countries, only three countries, korea, australia and poland, chalked up positive growth in 2009. what is more while it took six quarters for the economy to regain its pre - crisis scale following the asian foreign currency crisis in 1997, it took only four quarters after this latest crisis. this is largely ascribable to the fact that it was possible to take bold monetary and fiscal policy measures to deal with the crisis in contrast to the situation following the foreign currency crisis. korean financial institutions and firms had put themselves on a sound financial footing following the 1997 meltdown. employment similarly, labor market conditions, which lag economic activity, have improved greatly since the beginning of the year. the number of persons in private sector employment shifted to an increase in the fourth quarter last year, and by the second quarter this year it was higher than its level just before lehman brothers ’ collapse. – on the other hand, the main advanced countries have not so far been able to pull out of the downward trend in the number of persons in employment. prices mirroring the movements of the real economy, consumer price inflation eased from 4. 1 % in 2008 to 2. 8 % last year and this year it has continued at a little above 2 ½ %. actually the scale of the change in korean price movements has been rather lower than that of other countries. – the rate of increase in us consumer prices fell steeply from 3. 8 % in 2008 to ∆0. 4 % in 2009 and that in chinese prices similarly tumbled from 5. 9 % to ∆0. 7 % over the same two - year period. house prices house prices in korea have shifted to an upward trend since the second quarter of last year, after experiencing a mild drop following lehman brothers ’ collapse.

flourished through good and bad times. it has been a reliable partner for the business community. in recent years the bank has expanded both its branch network and its asset portfolio to take advantage of the robust growth in the business sector. good corporate governance, a commitment to providing high quality services to its customers and meticulous compliance with the regulatory and statutory requirements has been the hallmark of the bank. i would like to wish the bank of baroda the very best for the years to come. bis central bankers ’ speeches with these remarks, allow me to once again congratulate the shareholders, the board and senior management of bank of baroda for the issuance of bonus shares and for continuing to support both the development of the banking industry in uganda and the country ’ s capital markets. i hereby declare the bank of baroda bonus shares listed on uganda securities exchange. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches