seven month period ended 31 december 2015 with no transfers to the general reserve account. similar to past years, rbf ’ s profit is underpinned by the income earned from our foreign reserves holdings which are invested in safe and liquid assets offshore. in the 2017 financial year, the bank earned $ 41. 7 million in net foreign exchange income, boosted by elevated levels of foreign reserves. i wish to further inform the standing committee that we again managed to sign off on the bank ’ s annual audited financial statements for the twelve months ending 31 july 2017, on 28 september 2017, within two months after the end of our financial year. following the signing of the audited accounts and in line with the provisions of the rbf act, the bank provided to the honourable minister for economy a certified auditor ’ s copy of our financial accounts along with the operations report of the bank, on 29 september 2017. bis central bankers ’ speeches ( ii ) price stability honourable members, as you are well aware, fiji was hit by tropical cyclone ( tc ) winston in february 2016. it negatively impacted the supply and prices of fruits, vegetables, root crops and kava thereby placing upward pressure on domestic prices. consequently, inflation averaged 5. 2 percent in the first half of the fiscal year 2016 - 2017 and was something beyond our control. however, supplies began to normalise in 2017 resulting in a decline in headline inflation from 6. 8 percent in january 2017 to a low 2. 0 percent by july 2017. the subdued global prices of key imports such as oil and food also contributed to this outcome. ( iii ) external stability as a small open economy dependent on imports of a variety of goods, we need to maintain a sufficient level of foreign reserves, otherwise there will be pressures on our exchange rate. the international monetary fund ( imf ) has set a benchmark on the level of foreign reserves which states that it should be sufficient to cover 3 months of imports. given the external shocks and risk we face such as natural disasters like the one we experienced a few days ago, we built in an additional buffer above this benchmark. i am therefore pleased to inform that fiji ’ s foreign reserves remained well above the benchmark throughout the review period. at the end of july 2017, our foreign reserves level stood at $ 2, 313. 7 million and was sufficient to cover 5. 5 months of retained imports. in addition, there was approximately $ 591 million in foreign reserves held by non - bank financial institutions.

give out today recognises the successes of young and individual micro - entrepreneurs, micro - business partnerships and micro service providers. this year we received the highest number of submissions mainly from viti levu and a few from vanua levu, taveuni, lau and gau. the submissions have been assessed by a panel of three judges representing the ministry of women, children & poverty alleviation, the university of the south pacific and the reserve bank of fiji. the individual, partnership and youth categories were assessed on business growth, use of local resources and creativity, reserve bank of fiji adequate book - keeping, sustainability and compliance with government regulations. for the institution category, assessments focused on outreach, delivery channels and use of innovative technology and client protection. closing i wish to take this time to congratulate all our finalists that have joined us from around the country today despite the weather conditions. you have done an incredible job to get to where you are today and should be proud of your achievements. to our award recipients, we trust that you will put your prizes to good use in expanding your businesses and furthering your entrepreneurial dreams. i also wish to acknowledge and thank the government for its continuous support towards our work and initiatives on msme development, particularly mitt, the honourable minister and our chief guest, the permanent secretary for taking time out from his busy schedule to attend tonight ’ s function. lastly and certainly not the least, i wish to once again acknowledge the great support of all our sponsors – thank you for your commitment. it is our hope that the success stories we highlight today will inspire others to capitalise on opportunities, start their own businesses and continue to support the micro enterprise sector. vinaka vakalevu, and i wish you all an enjoyable evening.