i want to talk about next. 2 see t. chernis and t. webley, “ nowcasting canadian gdp with density combinations, ” bank of canada staff discussion paper no. 2022 - 12 ( may 2022 ). - 4inflation is still too high since peaking at 8. 1 % in june, inflation has declined to 6. 9 %. and when we strip out volatile price changes, we see that year - over - year core inflation also stopped rising in the past couple of months, plateauing at around 5 %. there are also early indications that momentum in inflation is easing. three - month rates of core inflation have declined to about 3½ %. this easing is visible across various subcomponents of the consumer price index. for instance, price increases for various durable goods are starting to ease as consumer spending has softened and global supply disruptions have lessened. and our rate increases have helped cool the unsustainably hot housing market. with the decline in house prices, shelter inflation has moderated, despite rising interest costs and rents. these developments are encouraging, but as i mentioned earlier, we also see some reasons for concern. overheated domestic demand continues to drive price increases in hard - todistance services such as hotels and restaurants. a better balance of demand and supply could take time to have an impact here. another area where we have seen less progress is food price inflation — especially compared with inflation of other goods. prices here have continued to increase despite most agricultural commodity prices being well below their pandemic highs. to make meaningful progress toward our inflation target, we need to see threemonth rates of inflation come down even further and be sustained. in short, there remains a firmness or stickiness to inflation — and to near - term inflation expectations. inflation expectations remain a concern i ’ d like to spend a little time explaining why the bank has been closely monitoring what is happening with inflation expectations. it ’ s because history has shown us that high inflation expectations can lead to higher and more persistent inflation. this was the bitter experience of the 1970s. during that decade, we saw both high unemployment and high inflation. a key challenge at that time was that inflation expectations kept rising. remember, this was before central banks adopted inflation targeting. this means there was no target to anchor expected inflation. as a result, households and businesses saw no reason to believe that prices wouldn ’ t simply continue to climb at a rapid pace. they

pressures that increasingly manifest in the banking sector, both today and tomorrow. the evolution and increasing sophistication of customer tastes and preferences must be met by anytime - anywhere functionality. in order to respond appropriately to these needs, financial institutions must design financial service products and solutions that contain these same features. financial currently, digitalization provides institutions the ability to collect customer centric information, apply advanced data analytics thereto, and subsequently design and make available relevant financial products. with the development and roll out of digital banking solutions like mobile banking, internet banking etc., financial institutions operate as virtual agents on behalf of their consumers, enabling flexibility in the conducting of bank transactions. and with digitalization, comes increased speed of transaction processing and turn - around time. it is therefore self - evident that new digital banking innovations will continue to emerge, and gain prominence in customer service delivery. i am glad that standard chartered bank has recognized this trend and has embedded digitalization in its strategy as reflected by the continued implementation of innovative banking solutions. indeed, standard chartered bank was awarded the best “ digital bank for africa ” by the “ digital impact awards for africa ” in 2017, an attestation that the bank is determined to offer the best in class banking solutions through digital platforms. i wish to reiterate that while innovations such as the one being launched today accrue benefits to the financial institutions and customers, they also present associated risks, which if not well managed have the potential to outweigh the benefits. it is my prayer, and part of their prudential obligation, that supervised financial institutions including standard chartered bank uganda ltd, continuously review, enhance and improve their risk management programs ; especially with respect to the emergent risks inherent in digital banking business solutions. ladies and gentlemen, i wish to remind you that the bank of uganda through its monetary policy mandate is committed macroeconomic to environment fostering to a stable enhance the stability and soundness of uganda ’ s financial sector. as was highlighted in the monetary policy statement for december 2018, the economy is projected to grow by 6. 5 % in the financial year 2018 / 2019, an indication of a brighter economic outlook for business. i therefore urge standard chartered bank that in the pursuit of your strategies, keep in mind the opportunities that will accrue from the promising economic prospects. the central bank as a regulator, will continue to enhance its supervisory capacity and abilities in order to facilitate and maintain financial sector stability. the financial institutions act 2004 empowers bank