##d. in partnership with the treasury, we continue to assess how we can effectively and efficiently operate monetary policy should interest rates reach zero. you will hear more about this in weeks to come, but business will continue as usual. the next leg of the reserve bank ’ s legislative review is also well advanced – refreshing our broad mandate and our institutional governance arrangements. the government ’ s recent decisions on the bank ’ s future governance arrangements involves a more legally empowered board that is responsible for all of the bank ’ s functions other than those undertaken by the monetary policy committee. 9 the bank will also have a broader financial stability mandate, better clarifying our regulatory purposes and powers, and financial crisis management processes. these are positive changes and we are preparing for the new regime. however, there are still significant details and important decisions to be made. a final round of public consultation will occur soon, as we look to establish key aspects of our regulatory perimeter, crisis management, and enforcement tools. 10 i encourage your interest as we need your insight and support. rbnz media release - https : / / www. rbnz. govt. nz / news / 2019 / 12 / reserve - bank - welcomes - governmentdecision - on - banks - future - objectives phase 2 review - https : / / treasury. govt. nz / news - and - events / reviews - consultation / reviewing - reserve - bankact of special interest to me, as a ceo, is that there is appropriate arrangements between governance and management. we are currently working on a framework that includes : clarity of purpose, a bank - wide ‘ risk appetite statement ’, agreed strategies, appropriate delegations, and measurable goals that will enable a smooth transition. futureproofing our ‘ sap ’ – the cash we are the sole provider of new zealand banknotes and coins, as well as overseeing all, and operating some, of the countries payment and settlement systems. 11 these roles are increasingly challenging as the dynamics of cash use change, payment systems technology evolves, and our physical equipment ( including vaults ) depreciate and need upgrading. we are obliged to consider and embrace innovative solutions to ensure that all new zealanders ’ currency and transactional needs are met in an efficient and secure manner. and, we want to ensure these innovations retain and promote financial inclusion. work is underway to address these challenges with our ‘ future of cash ’ programme – te moni anamata – to make sure that new zealanders, the financial system, and

##c ministers for finance and investment agreed to recognise cosse as a private sector association at their meeting held on 18 july 1997 in south africa. in terms of the aims of cosse, the nsx and the jse play an important role in the institutional structures of stock exchanges in sadc. among others, cosse has set itself the challenging goal of establishing by 2008 an integrated real - time network of the national securities markets within sadc, thus facilitating progress with the process of financial integration within the sadc region. this will pave the way towards cross - border listings and, therefore, trading and investments among the different member exchanges of sadc. however, like all successful developments in market infrastructure, this should also be driven by market participants, who will seek the optimum balance between cost and risk. recent monetary policy developments in south africa as i indicated earlier, the existence of the cma implies that south africa effectively determines monetary policy for the whole cma. cpix inflation has been within the inflation target range since september 2003 and averaged 4, 3 per cent and 3, 9 per cent in 2004 and 2005 respectively. since march of this year, cpix inflation has been steadily rising, mainly as a result of rising energy and food prices, and in august inflation increased at a year - on - year rate of 5 per cent. buoyant consumer demand, which increased at an annualised rate of 8 per cent in the second quarter of this year, has been posing a further risk to the inflation outlook. this demand has been fuelled by credit extension growth in excess of 25 per cent. these developments contributed to the expanding current account deficit which measured in excess of 6 cent of gdp in each of the first two quarters of this year. this is turn has contributed to the recent weakness in the rand, which has depreciated on a trade weighted basis by approximately 23 per cent since early may. this degree of depreciation, in turn, poses a further risk to the inflation outlook. in response to these developments, the monetary policy committee of the south african reserve bank has raised the repo rate by 50 basis points at each of the past two meetings of the monetary policy committee. this change in the monetary policy stance has occurred against the backdrop of a strongly growing domestic economy. south africa's economic growth averaged 4, 5 per cent and 4, 9 per cent in 2004 and 2005 respectively. despite the change in the monetary policy stance, we do not anticipate