monetary policy throughout the year. the bank rate was reduced on five occasions by a cumulative 5 percentage points to 10 percent, and commercial bank lending rates were correspondingly reduced. this policy stance complemented the economic stimulus provided by the government ’ s expansionary fiscal policy. looking ahead, the global economic outlook is projected to improve significantly as more economies continue to emerge from recession. however, as mentioned earlier, economic recovery in developed economies is slow and, in most cases, fragile, while concerns about the build - up of government debt are growing. furthermore, high unemployment and low growth in household incomes will contribute to weak demand. in the circumstances, global inflationary pressures are expected to remain low. however, there are risks to the inflation outlook due to uncertainty about international oil and commodity prices that tend to accompany an economic recovery. for this reason, global inflation is forecast to increase from 2. 7 percent in 2009 to 3. 8 percent in 2010, while inflation in sdr countries is expected to increase from zero in 2009 to 1. 5 percent this year. in contrast, south africa ’ s headline inflation is forecast to fall from 6. 3 percent in 2009 to 5. 8 percent this year, in which case it will move towards the inflation target range of 3 – 6 percent. in botswana, expectations are that the exchange rate influence on import prices will be minimal. the bank ’ s inflation objective range of 3 – 6 percent is very close to the forecast trading partner countries ’ inflation range of 3 – 5 percent. this means that the downward crawl of the nominal effective exchange rate that is required for maintaining a competitive real effective exchange rate should be small in 2010. overall, the effect of imported inflation on domestic inflation transmitted through foreign price increases is also expected to be minimal. although the domestic economy is expected to grow in 2010, total output is projected to remain below trend in the medium - term, due to the lingering effects of the global recession and the planned cuts in government expenditure. in addition, growth in household disposable income and, consequently, demand for domestic goods and services, is likely to be sluggish due to the continuing wage freeze for civil servants, the planned increase in value added tax, other government levies and utility tariffs. moreover, the improvement in business confidence that may have taken place so far due to the increase in government spending, could be dampened by the planned expenditure cuts. so far, on the basis of available information, inflation will rise modestly in the

of responsibility, and in a good number of financial and non - financial businesses, disregarded these cardinal guiding principles of good corporate governance and conveniently forgot that what is legal is not necessarily ethical. in the end, the financial and economic structure could not bear the weight of accumulated lapses ; so, it collapsed. while all this is now water under the bridge, it has been recognised in some quarters that the international accounting standards contributed more than their fair share to the financial crisis. it is pointed out that one new standard abandoned the traditional prudent principle of historical asset valuation and replaced it with a highly subjective and pro - cyclical “ fair value ” concept. as a result, brokers, analysts and investment bankers abused the standard. the upward movement of stock prices immediately inflated balance sheets which, in turn, further inflated the asset price and, when the economic downturn set in, the bubble eventually burst. it was known that the paper profits resulting from inflated asset book values could not be realised ; and yet banks and other non - bank institutions took inordinate debt issuance risks. in addition, the “ fair - value ” principle was not much understood by the market, and was not transparent. in the event, balance sheets were hardly a useful basis for decision - making by economic agents. the far reaching economic and social consequences of this accounting practice are now a matter of record. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it has been said that war is too serious a business to be left to the generals only. likewise, it is now widely recognised that accounting is too important a profession to be left to accountants only. indeed the united states of america and the european union recently took measures to “ soften ” or dilute, as it were, the deleterious effects of “ fair - value ” accounting practice in financial institutions. another emerging change is the call for more disclosures in accounting standards with which those of us outside the profession are grappling, obviously with the helping hand of accountants. long gone are the days when accountants confined themselves to the boring ivory tower of “ number crunching ” or, as at times pejoratively referred to, “ bean counting ”. in fact, it has been said that accounting has now entered a golden age ; an age of the changing role of the accountant ; an age of wide - ranging roles that include professional business advice, planning, reporting, identification of value drivers and risk mitigation. in particular, it is increasingly desirable that the