to maintain a safe, efficient and stable financial system in mauritius. both supervisory bodies will, under the terms of the mou, work in close collaboration to ensure the setting up of appropriate arrangements to respond to threats to financial stability, to coordinate information sharing and avoid duplication. financial stability remains a major concern to both the bank of mauritius and the financial services commission, given their statutory responsibilities to supervise and regulate the financial markets. achieving financial stability is not a destination but rather a journey. it is an on - going concern for both regulators given the continuous developments and challenge s in the economic environment. presently, our financial sector is under the regulatory and supervisory purview of these two bodies. currently, the asymmetry of information makes it difficult to evaluate the state of financial stability. as the final resting place of risk is hard to observe, as regulators, we can at least try, through this collaboration, to track its passage through the markets. there are, therefore, compelling reasons for both authorities to strengthen collaboration with a view to improving the sharing of information relevant to their respective responsibilities. the process of effective consolidated supervision involves qualitative as well as quantitative dimensions. supervisors must therefore be aware of the ownership structure, the overall organizational structure, the corporate governance and risk management systems and all material risks within a conglomerate. as regulators, we must have knowledge of the entire group to properly assess risks which may emanate either from the licensee ’ s core activities or from its affiliation with entities that may or may not be directly regulated. as conglomerates are showing increasing interest in banking business, we regulators have the duty to evaluate the risks that would spill over directly or indirectly from the non - bank or non - regulated entities of the groups. we must by all means avoid supervisory grey areas. enhancing information sharing between regulatory authorities right from the licensing stage helps to minimize the risks arising from supervisory gaps. as you are aware, mauritius had undergone two financial sector assessment programmes ( fsap ) by a joint imf - world bank mission in recent years. the launching of this joint coordination committee shows the commitment of the regulators to promote best international practices that meet the expectations of international organizations and of the basel committee on banking supervision which also advocates that banking groups should be supervised on a consolidated basis. i now have the pleasure of announcing to you the names of the representatives of the bank of mauritius on the joint committee. mr. h. o. jankee, chief economist, mrs n. sajadah

##d and consider how this organization has grown in size and in the depth of its engagement on different issues, i would say that globalization is not going away. what i do expect, however, is there will be more thought and consideration among our leaders for how globalization affects the people we serve, with a more careful weighing of both the potential costs of closer integration and the potential benefits. as these decisions by governments are made, central bankers will need to be prepared to respond appropriately in setting monetary policy and promoting financial stability. another longer - term challenge involves demographic trends. what i mean here is the aging of populations in oecd countries, and, to some extent, everywhere else. - 8while this is mainly a problem for fiscal authorities, it does have some ramifications for central bankers in terms of long - run growth rates, productivity, and asset prices. in the united states, those between the ages of 16 and 54 were 72 percent of the population in 2003, 62. 7 percent in 2023, and are projected to be 61 percent in 2033. aging is happening even more quickly in some other oecd countries. this is a slowmoving development but, as populations age and move from working to retirement, employment and economic output fall. this by itself lowers per capita gdp, which can affect consumption, investment and inflation. as aging populations sell accumulated assets to support consumption, asset prices and interest rates will adjust as well, with the latter potentially affecting the central bank ’ s estimate of the neutral policy rate. there are mitigants to soften the effect of aging populations, such as an increase in retirement age, immigration and higher productivity growth for younger workers. again, these demographic factors are more important for fiscal policy, but there are spillovers to monetary policy. productivity growth is another issue facing central bankers and i know has been the subject of conversations at oecd gatherings this past year. according to one set of estimates, labor productivity growth is responsible for more than half of the cumulative gdp growth in the united states since the end of 2019, compared to much smaller shares in other countries. productivity growth is notoriously volatile and, even years later, it is hard to say exactly what technological and other factors caused it. 7 having some understanding of the trajectory of productivity growth is helpful for policymakers for a discussion of factors affecting productivity growth in the u. s. and whether they can contribute to sustained growth, see christopher j. waller ( 2024 ), “