harvesh seegolam : address - g20 / oecd task force on financial consumer protection address by mr harvesh seegolam, governor of the bank of mauritius, on the occasion of the g20 / oecd task force on financial consumer protection, port louis, 26 april 2023. * * * ms. nisha arora, chair of the g20 / oecd task force on financial consumer protection mr. chris green, chair of finconet members of the oecd the finconet governing council i wish you all a very good morning or good afternoon, depending in which geography you currently are if you are attending this event virtually. at the outset, i would like to thank the g20 / oecd together with finconet for organising this event at such a critical juncture where the advent of technology is revolutionising the delivery of financial services, thereby creating additional challenges for financial consumer protection. unfortunately, due to professional commitments, i could not make it in paris. however, as you can see, technology has made wonders not only in the financial services sector but also to enable us to connect from all corners of the globe. financial consumer protection has been high on my agenda since my appointment as governor in march 2020. i am pleased to share with the audience that from the 22nd to the 24th of november this year, the bank of mauritius will host the annual general meetings of finconet. you are all cordially invited to attend and further details will be provided by finconet as we draw closer to the meeting. i am pleased to share my views on such an important topic as consumer education and consumer protection, particularly in a global financial environment that technology is radically transforming. it would not be proper to underscore the importance of financial education and consumer education if we fail to comprehend the hazards of not educating and protecting consumers of financial products. indeed, failing on these two fronts would inevitably result in citizens making poor financial decisions, thereby affecting their quality of life and, by ripple, undermining the efficiency of our banking and financial systems. it is with these imperatives in mind that i have initiated a number of projects. in january last year, the bank of mauritius rolled out a nation - wide strategy with specific focus on financial literacy in a digital era. the strategy, which benefitted from the oecd infe's endorsement, aims at fostering an appropriate level of financial education to enable customers

industry has emerged from a period of restructuring and organisational change during 1996 - 2003. in the subsequent years, there is a growing realisation of productivity and efficiency gains and is increasingly becoming internationally competitive. the main driver of the indian economy currently is the services sector, which constitutes 61. 9 per cent of gdp in 2006 - 07 and contributed two - thirds of average real gdp growth for the period 2002 - 07. the strengthening of economic activity has been supported by persistent increase in domestic investment rate from 22. 9 per cent of gdp in 2001 - 02 to 33. 8 per cent 2005 - 06 coupled with an efficient use of capital. it must also be noted that over 95 per cent of investment during this period was financed by the domestic savings only. domestic saving rate has also improved from 23. 5 per cent to 32. 4 per cent over the same period. the contribution to improvement in savings has come both from private corporate sector and public sector. inflation while growth has picked up, over the years, inflation rate has been moderated to lower levels ensuring price stability. initially, the inflation rate accelerated steadily from an annual average of 1. 7 per cent during the 1950s to 6. 4 per cent during the 1960s and further to 9. 0 per cent in the 1970s before easing marginally to 8. 0 per cent in the 1980s. the inflation rate declined from an average of 11. 0 cent during 1990 - 95 to 5. 3 per cent during the second half of the 1990s. in the recent years, inflation rate has averaged around 5 per cent. in recognition of india's evolving integration with the global economy and societal preferences, the resolve, going forward, is to condition policy and expectations in the range of 4. 0 - 4. 5 per cent in the medium term. it may be of interest to note that, since independence, the wholesale price inflation on average basis was above 15 per cent in only five out of fifty years. in thirty six out of fifty years, inflation was in single digit and on most occasions high inflation was due to shocks – food or oil. stability an important characteristic of the growth phase of over a quarter of century is the country's resilience to shocks and during this period, we have witnessed only one serious balance of payments crisis triggered largely by the gulf war in the early 1990s. the indian economy in later years, could successfully avoid any adverse contagion impact of shocks from the east asian crisis, the russian crisis during 1997 - 98,