zeti akhtar aziz : bank negara malaysia link speech by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia, at the launch of bank negara malaysia link, kuala lumpur, 25 february 2005. * * * yang amat berhormat dato'seri abdullah ahmad badawi, perdana menteri malaysia dan menteri kewangan malaysia, tetamu - tetamu kehormat, tuan - tuan dan puan - puan, the central bank engaging with the public is what bank negara malaysia link is about. it is my great pleasure and honour to welcome you to the official launch of the bank negara malaysia laman informasi nasihat dan khidmat or the bank negara malaysia link. the bank negara malaysia link aims to enhance the effectiveness of bank negara malaysia's interface with the public. bank negara malaysia link is established as a centralised point of contact with the public on issues that relate to our operations, our policies, the financial sector and consumer education in the area of finance. we believe this continuous engagement with the public will not only enhance awareness, understanding and appreciation of the issues at hand but also contribute to facilitating the efficient functioning of the financial system and ensure the effectiveness of policy. bank negara malaysia link will also centralise all interface with the smes on issues that relate to matters on access to financing and thereby contribute towards enhancing their value added to the economy. tuan - tuan dan puan - puan, kami amat berbesar hati dengan kesudian yang amat berhormat dato'seri abdullah ahmad badawi untuk melancarkan laman informasi nasihat dan khidmat bank negara malaysia atau bank negara malaysia link pada hari ini. kami mengambil kesempatan dari kehadiran yang amat berhormat dato'seri di taklimat ekonomi di bank negara malaysia pada pagi ini untuk merasmikan bank negara malaysia link. penubuhan bank negara malaysia link merupakan komitmen bank negara malaysia untuk meningkatkan lagi perkhidmatan yang diberikan kepada orang ramai dan membantu meningkatkan akses pemb

( figure 32 ). in this context, the previous assumption of oil prices are revised up from 80 usd per barrel to 85 usd for 2010, and from 85 usd to 90 usd for 2011 and thereafter ( table 2 ). besides, in april, commodity prices surged to their highest levels for 2010 on the back of ongoing favorable growth expectations ( figure 33 ). therefore, while producing medium - term forecasts, in line with oil prices, imported input costs are also assumed to increase gradually throughout the forecast horizon in response to the recovery in the world economy. this revision has shifted the 2010 inflation forecast up by 0. 15 percentage points. the january inflation report envisaged food inflation to be 7 percent at end - 2010, 6. 5 percent for 2011 and 6 percent for the following years ( table 2 ). however, worse than expected outcomes regarding unprocessed food prices and ongoing supply - side structural problems led to an upward revision in the assumption for food inflation from 7 percent to 9 percent for 2010, which added 0. 55 percentage points to end - 2010 inflation forecast ( table 2 ). similarly, assumptions for 2011 food inflation have been raised to 7 percent from 6. 5 percent, and 7 percent from 6 percent for the following years ( table 2 ). at this point, i would like to highlight that the recent measures regarding meat prices posed a downside risk especially for our assumption on food prices in 2010. in the previous report, the impact of the tax measures implemented in january on fuel, alcohol, and tobacco products on 2010 inflation were estimated to be around 1. 5 percentage points. however, the realization was 1. 9 percent, partly reflecting the change in the weighting scheme of the cpi, and thus shifting the inflation forecast path by around 0. 4 percentage points throughout 2010. here i would like to particularly underline once more that the impact of the tax hikes would disappear at the beginning of 2011. regarding fiscal policy, it is assumed that, in line with the medium term program, the fiscal stance will remain expansionary – but less so than in 2009 – throughout 2010, and that fiscal consolidation would gradually ensue starting from 2011 as guided by the fiscal rule set out in the medium term program. in this respect, as implied by the fiscal rule, it is assumed that the fiscal space created by the stronger than expected economic activity leading to better than expected performance in budget revenues since the second half of 2009, would be used mostly to reduce the government debt