continent, as a member of the association of african central banks ( aacb ), we will continue to contribute to the objective of the creation of a central bank of the continent. final remarks ladies and gentlemen, we would like to express our profound recognition of the valuable contribution that all national economic agents, the society in general and the international community has been giving us in order to fulfil our mission, particularly in respect of the formulation and execution of a monetary policy in conformity with the objectives of economic growth, with low inflation. allow me to address special thanks to the employees of the national financial system and in particular, to the collaborators of the banco de mocambique, for their devotion and commitment demonstrated during the year. i finish wishing you all and your distinct families, merry christmas and a prosperous new year. thank you very much.

##rrencies traded in various segments of the foreign exchange market. the exceptional measures announced late 2005 revealed to be important to abate the market and endow it with greater discipline and professionalism. we would like to praise the results obtained with the adjustments undertaken in the whole chain of the complex process of fuel imports, in order to stabilize the exchange rate. the metical depreciation in relation to the usd in 2006 was less than 10 %, against 27 % recorded in 2005 ; in relation to the rand, our currency inverted the loss of 11 % recorded last year, as it appreciated by about 3. 3 %. the banco de mocambique continued to be the main supporter of the interbank foreign exchange market ( ifem ), in terms of foreign currency sales, having to date allocated a total of usd 435 million net, in auctions and bilateral sales, against 393 million recorded in 2005. the foreign exchange market witnessed an increased confidence among its operators and this is proved by the increased volume and frequency of foreign exchange transactions among commercial banks, which peaked to 181. 4 million in 2006, against 39. 5 million in 2005. external sector developments ( bop ) ladies and gentlemen according to information reported to september 2006, our balance of payments shows encouraging results. however, it still depends significantly on external support, making us more exposed to exogenous shocks, whose macroeconomic impacts are not always easy to predict. our country is totally dependent on imports of liquid fuels. the rise of brent price in the international market results prejudicial in the behaviour of domestic inflation and international reserves. the fuel bill until september 2006 had amounted to about usd 300 million, against 218 million recorded in 2005. this figure worries us, taking into account that our exports, excluding the mega projects effect, are of only usd 600 million, in other words, about a half of the country export revenues are set to finance fuel bill. until september 2006, mozambique current account deficit had improved 38 % compared with the similar period of 2005, if we include mega projects, and 9 % excluding the operations of such projects. in the overall, we continue to import more than we export, having the amount of imports risen 23 % in the first nine months of the current year, amounting to about usd 2 billion, whereas that of total exports amounted to usd 1. 750 million. thanks to a relatively more dynamic growth of goods export than that of imports, the imports coverage rate by exports improved again, representing 89