of all, no department attempted to report to the cso bottlenecks they were experiencing in carrying out some tasks. as such, some tasks were cancelled or deferred without drawing the attention of the spc or management. clearly, this is contrary to what was agreed. it was agreed that departments experiencing difficulties in implementing some tasks should report such incidences promptly without the need to follow the established reporting calendars. this was to enable management to make fast track decisions to keep planned programmes on course. second, some departments appeared to be unwilling to give these exercises the due attention they deserve regarding them as needless bother by deliberately not responding to reminders. this has resulted into late submission of pars and, therefore, a delay in the production of quarterly and annual reports. but, i should add that the problem of late submission of reports goes beyond work planning and budgeting activities. as a matter of fact, it is endemic and pervasive in the bank, and involves all other bank - wide initiatives, namely : • business continuity and contingency planning ; • staff performance appraisal exercises ; • responses to audit queries. the fact that the bank recognises the importance of these initiatives in management and that we signed up to their basic principles, means that we should devote much of our time to the processes involved to realise the benefits. this involves changing our attitudes and mindset and to recognise that we must always work as a team and deliver services promptly to derive the maximum benefits of our collective efforts. and so this coming year, i would like senior management to take much of their time and attend very seriously to bank - wide programmes. obviously, this will mean senior management devolving much of routine functions to the rank and file and concentrating on strategic functions. i also think we should introduce a system of rewards and sanctions for performing and under performing departments and functions. naming and shaming under performing departments and functions could be a useful sanctioning tool. such a system could be important because as more and more strategic functions are introduced into the bank so will the role of senior management increase to attend to those functions. very soon, the bank will be adding to the menu of bank - wide programmes, risk and performance standards management frameworks. therefore, if we do not have the right mindset to absorb these additional responsibilities, we will, definitely, not succeed. on the issue of staff performance appraisal, i am deeply concerned that senior management are persistently not app

16 percent trimmed mean and exclusion method ) also registered an upward trend. rising inflation, both domestically and elsewhere, is attributable mainly to the international price of oil - based products and food. in botswana, inflation for the category of the consumer price index that includes petrol rose from 2. 9 percent in september 2007 to 56. 1 percent last month in june, accounting for about three - quarters of the total increase in headline inflation. food price inflation has remained more stable but high, while for most other items inflation has remained much lower and generally within the medium - term objective. in june, there was some indication of a more widespread acceleration of prices which could, in turn, indicate the emergence of second - round effects. pressures from domestic demand abound, as indicated by growth rates of credit and government expenditure, as well as strong output expansion. the real growth of gdp in 2006 / 07 is estimated at 6 percent, while more recent estimates indicate that economic growth excluding mining and government accelerated further in the second half of 2007. monetary policy implementation in the first half of 2008 for the first four months of 2008, the bank rate, which had last been changed in june 2007, was at 14. 5 percent. at the time, while a short - term deterioration in the outlook for inflation was anticipated, the medium - term projection indicated a sustained improvement. it was also appreciated that there were upside risks arising from the escalating food, fuel and other administered prices, as well as the impact of a wage - induced increase in demand. hence the bank ’ s monetary policy committee concluded that the bias was towards monetary policy tightening going forward. subsequently, it was clear from the bank ’ s analysis that the outlook for inflation had deteriorated, with revised forecasts estimating annual inflation to peak at a higher level than previously indicated. hence the successive increases of 50 basis points each in may and june brought the bank rate to 15. 5 percent. it is widely believed that interest rates have only a limited influence on domestic demand in botswana, as borrowers appear not to respond to interest rate changes. this is based primarily on the observation that growth in bank lending has remained high, despite high interest rates. this argument is weak in several respects, as it does not acknowledge factors such as income growth and the broadening reach of the banking sector, both of which should be expected to encourage more borrowing. even if borrowing was unresponsive to interest rate changes, it goes without saying that increased costs of