for the global economy. as the present decade started, the region continued to grow strongly, helped by a rebound in commodity prices and strong growth in china, which had over the previous decade turned into africa ’ s largest and fastest - growing trading partner. however, this pace of growth hit a ‘ snag ’ in 2016, when real gross domestic product ( gdp ) increased by a mere 1. 4 %, thus decoupling from emerging - market and global norms. the negative impact from the 2014 - 15 collapse in oil prices on some of the continent ’ s major oil exporters played an important part. however, the deceleration was relatively broad - based2 and exposed several underlying fragilities that had accumulated in earlier years, including the rise in external or fiscal account constraints. where do we stand now? economic growth has recovered since the abrupt deceleration of 2016, and major international institutions now forecast a moderate pickup into 2019. for example, the world bank, in its june 2018 global economic prospects, projects real gdp 1 if one excludes china, sub - saharan africa actually outpaced growth in all the other major regions in the 2000s. 2 out of 43 countries, 23 witnessed a deceleration in growth in 2016, according to world bank data. page 2 of 11 growth of 3. 5 % next year, after 3. 1 % in the current year and 2. 6 % in 2017. however, this gradual pace of expansion still falls short of what the continent experienced, on average, in the previous decade. furthermore, economists agree that, with per capita gdp growth rising by only about 1 % a year, it will not make a major dent in poverty and inequality. the imbalances that have built up over the past decade have not disappeared. the region ’ s current account deficit, which had peaked at an elevated 6 % of gdp in 2015, narrowed to 2. 6 % last year. however, the imf expects that it will widen moderately again this year and the next, to around 3 % of gdp. furthermore, this aggregate hides the disparate performances across countries. the recovery in brent crude prices has helped to alleviate the external pressures for oil exporters, but in countries whose strong growth has been heavily dependent on import - intensive public infrastructure investment, current account deficits remain high and, in many cases, are rising. in any event, external debt ( expressed as a share of gdp ) for sub - saharan africa as a whole

return to our monetary policy. inflation has declined somewhat since august. while this development is welcome, it is still too early to sound the all - clear. in fact, the underlying inflationary pressure has increased again, due also to the high level of inflation abroad. in this environment, there is a danger that inflation could remain elevated in switzerland in the medium term owing to second - round effects. the renewed tightening of our monetary policy is therefore necessary to ensure that inflation returns to the range consistent with price stability over the medium term. it cannot be ruled out that further increases in the snb policy rate will be necessary to ensure price stability. i would like to conclude by addressing the development of the exchange rate and our activity on the foreign exchange market. since the beginning of the year, the swiss franc has appreciated by around 4 % on a trade - weighted basis. this appreciation has helped ensure that less inflation has been imported from abroad, thus curbing the rise in inflation. at our monetary policy assessments in june and september, we indicated we would also consider selling foreign currency depending on the development of the exchange rate. accordingly, we have sold foreign currency in recent months to ensure appropriate monetary conditions. we will also sell foreign currency in the future if this is appropriate from the monetary policy perspective. conversely, we remain willing to buy foreign currency again if necessary, i. e. if there were to be excessive appreciation pressure. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention. i now hand over to martin schlegel, who will speak about the latest developments with regard to cash. page 3 / 4 berne, 15 december 2022 thomas jordan news conference page 4 / 4