and planning ii. the public service unions iii. the private sector represented by an all - embracing, dynamic, innovative, and regionalist - oriented business council ; and iv. a resilient, well capitalized and innovative national banking sector. the socioeconomic transformation will require a rate of growth of between 5 and 7 percent over a period of at least ten years to double per capita incomes in the oecs. this rate of growth will be able to address the unemployment and poverty levels and maintain and improve the human development indices. given the integration arrangements as well as the political choices and political management of the process, the strategy involves a reduction in the cost and an increase in the efficiency of government, allied with a significant increase in private sector output for export. there must be a balance between consumption and production which would involve a pact between the state, the private sector and the trade unions to maintain the balance and trade – offs between wages, prices, employment and productivity. this pact has been successful in barbados and should be replicated throughout the region. bis central bankers ’ speeches another critical area to be tackled is the resources – expectation gap. this results from the demonstration effect of being in this hemisphere, in close proximity to the land of mass consumption, the united states, coupled with the impact of multi – party, competitive, elective politics which escalates the demand for public services. political parties must play a critical role in the management of these expectations. the consumption orientation of the economic system has however been underpinned by a very sophisticated import machinery evident in both the real sector and the financial sector. structural changes to both sectors will be required. the banking system will have to be a major target for restructuring, especially since it controls over 75 percent of the loanable funds in the economy. a strong national banking system would be a prerequisite for influencing the process, coupled with a deliberate effort, as is now taking place, to strengthen money and capital market institutions. the private sector will also have to reinvent itself to change its structure from being one - third formal, two - thirds informal and 90 percent concentrated on wholesale, retail, real estate and construction activities. the new balance should see a reversal of the formal / informal ratio and at least a 60 / 40 arrangement of non - tradeables to tradeables. in the government sector a cadre of technically and administratively competent professionals should spearhead the restructuring of the state machinery to create a highly competent and developmental state.

philipp hildebrand : switzerland and global competition - an all - purpose strategy summary of a speech by mr philipp hildebrand, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the university of st gallen, st gallen, 29 august 2005. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ) * * * openness was one of the major factors that made switzerland one of the richest countries in the world. a significant portion of our industry, and one upon which our current prosperity is based, is the direct or indirect outcome of foreign expertise and the efforts of foreign entrepreneurs. these people were attracted to switzerland – particularly in the 19th century – by its openness and its stable, liberal environment. openness promotes competition, innovation and progress, thereby securing sustained prosperity. but switzerland strayed from the straight and narrow when it began erecting barriers to competition – barriers that provided ever greater protection to its domestic market. the ensuing insulation of the domestic market is probably one of the main reasons for switzerland's growth slump today. external trade policies are always domestic market policies as well. consequently, external trade policies have instruments that can be effective in opening up the domestic market from outside. this openness to external trade is of utmost importance, therefore, not only for exporters, but also for the domestic market. being open towards europe and towards other trading blocks is not mutually exclusive. ultimately, being open means pitting oneself against the very best, irrespective of the region they belong to, since only if we compete against the best, will we be one of the best in the future. consequently, it would be wrong for switzerland to limit its openness to a given geographic region. openness must be the fundamental principle governing all of its economic policies. even in the changing global environment of intensive competition, switzerland can increase its prosperity if it rethinks its economic policy direction and embraces former tried and tested virtues such as openness, freedom and personal responsibility.