. still in the context of its programme of corporate social responsibility, the bank sponsored the national inter club youth championship for the fourth consecutive year in mauritius and for the second time in rodrigues. tenders were launched for the construction, on a d & b basis, of the bank ’ s regional office at rodrigues. we pursued our policy to enhance the professional competence of our staff to respond to the new exigencies facing central banks. human resource development continued to be one of our top priorities. training was mainly in the fields of bank supervision and macroeconomic modelling. bis central bankers ’ speeches looking ahead our monetary policy framework has achieved commendable credibility in a short period and has even been held up as a model for similar countries by the imf. but after four years of operation, our mpc was ripe for a review. sir alan budd, a well - known figure in the world of finance in the uk and a founder - member of the monetary policy committee of the bank of england, conducted an in - depth review of the mpc. one of the areas he was specifically asked to look into was how to enhance transparency and communication. sir alan budd ’ s recommendations took on board our proposals to publish both the minutes of meetings and the pattern of individual votes. the recommendations will take effect as from the next mpc meeting ( december 2011 ). so we will be looking at a still more transparent mpc, which will without doubt enhance its credibility. we also have plans in the year ahead to deepen our financial market through the listing of government securities on the stock market and conducting single - maturity auctions. by the time this report would be in the public domain, we would be holding the online auctioning of government paper. the global financial crisis has highlighted the issue of systemically important financial institutions. in our case, the concern is the high degree of concentration in the banking sector, which i have raised in recent public addresses. in view of the likely implications on financial stability, the bank intends to deal with this issue in collaboration with the banking industry. our country has garnered considerable praise internationally for what we have achieved so far. we continued with top rankings in leading league tables such as the index of economic freedom, the corruption index of the mo ibrahim foundation, the world bank ’ s ease of doing business index, the global competitiveness report etc. but, as investment advisers are supposed to warn their customers, past performance is no guarantee of future results. the heightened

rundheersing bheenick : review of the year gone by and reflections on the present and future outlook statement by mr rundheersing bheenick, governor of the bank of mauritius, port louis, 7 october 2011. * * * as i settled down to write this, it struck me that what i had described as “ stressful and extraordinary times ” in my previous statement seem set to last for quite some time. the global economy has become even more unpredictable and much of the traditional thinking is being put to the test as longheld paradigms are thrown overboard. hopes of a quick and easy recovery faded away rapidly. new threats have emerged. persistent eurozone sovereign debt concerns have thrown markets into turmoil, driving bond - yields of vulnerable economies to record highs. the situation has been no less alarming on the other side of the atlantic where standard & poor ’ s downgraded the credit rating of the us, a debt default was averted in extremis, and financial markets plunged. business sentiment and consumer confidence have nosedived as businesses and households postpone spending and consumption. all these, together with jittery markets hungry for good news that, when they come, prove all - too - fleeting, make this super - cycle one of the most volatile ever witnessed. in most advanced economies, the global recession had a negative impact on budgetary conditions, with many governments gradually adopting austerity measures. under the pressure of market sentiment, fiscal consolidation and structural adjustments have become the order of the day. emerging economies could not long survive unscathed. so it has been for mauritius. as we engaged to deal with these snowballing challenges, the bank remained alert and nimble, taking decisive and timely action to protect the interest of the mauritian economy. as in years past, let me recapture the highlights of the year gone by and briefly comment on the present and future outlook. the financial health of our banks was at the top of our agenda. they remained resilient and profitable, with aggregate pre - tax profits standing at rs13. 3 billion in 2010 / 11, as against rs13. 9 billion in the preceding year. a sure sign of the fine health of our banking sector was the entry of additional operators on the banking scene, with ( i ) the conversion of a non - bank deposit taking institution into a full - fledged bank in june 2010 and ( ii ) the first islamic bank starting operations in march 2011. the monetary policy committee