supervisors, and the international organization of securities commissions. the council has provided the key forum for y2k communications among financial market authorities around the globe. to date, more than 100 countries have participated in our activities. i chair the joint council, and i am very proud of what we have achieved over the past year. the joint council has issued a number of guidance papers to assist regulators in organizing the year 2000 efforts of the financial services industries within their countries. these papers address the scope and impact of the year 2000 challenge, the independent assessment of the preparedness of financial institutions, testing, information sharing, and contingency planning. in addition, the joint council issues bulletins summarizing recent developments and best practices for supervisors. most important, the joint council is completing a second round of regional meetings that focus on contingency planning, event management, and public communications strategies. these meetings provide an excellent opportunity for supervisors to discuss common interests within specific geographic areas, to share information, and to coordinate regional plans in anticipation of the rollover. the joint council also serves as a point of contact for various national and international private - sector initiatives. in this regard, it has established an external consultative committee to enhance information - sharing between the public and private sectors. the ecc includes representatives of internationally oriented organizations, including the international monetary fund, the world bank, and the major cross - border financial utilities, such as s. w. i. f. t., for making international payments and settling transactions. the council is now in the process of establishing information sharing facilities for financial market authorities to use during the rollover period. private sector activity in the international financial community, we have a highly active private sector that has been effective in promoting the readiness of financial services firms and markets around the globe. as i mentioned earlier, private sector groups, such as the global 2000 coordinating group, have been educating private sector executives and public sector officials about the international interest in the readiness of key sectors in their countries that are critical to international commerce, such as telecommunication, power, financial service, shipping and transportation. no one can declare with certainty how the millennium rollover will unfold internationally, and much of my information is anecdotal. however, the financial service sector is generally perceived to be better prepared than other sectors in almost every country. in general, i can report that the financial firms of the developed countries, like those in the united states, either are, or appear to be making good

a deterioration in our nfl position. 24 bascand ( 2016 ) and wong ( 2017 ). 25 these downward revisions were included in the annual income and expenditure accounts for the year to march 2016. household saving was revised significantly lower for the years 2013 to 2015, in part due to a correction in how income was allocated across sectors ( the income was reallocated from the household to the business sector ). 26 purchase of existing homes is not regarded as investment by the household sector as a whole, as buying and selling of existing homes is a transfer between households. ref # 7076865 v2. 1 this brings me to my final observation, which is the role the financial system plays in these dynamics. domestic deposit growth has slowed over the past year and continues to be outpaced by credit growth, meaning the banking system ’ s exposure to offshore funding markets has increased recently, albeit at longer maturities. if the gap between credit and deposit growth is sustained, banks will likely become more dependent on offshore markets to sustain credit growth and replace expiring funding. however, banks have recently begun to compete more aggressively for deposits and tighten lending standards, which should help alleviate offshore funding pressures and prevent a significant increase in nfl. the bank will be following closely the extent to which banks : source required funding domestically ( which could be driven by ‘ sector - led ’ behaviour and / or the incentives provided by higher deposit rates ) ; tighten lending standards to constrain credit growth ; or return to a situation similar to that of the previous expansion, when banks met demand for credit through increasing reliance on offshore funding. conclusion in summary, the large improvement in new zealand ’ s nfl - gdp since 2009, and the stability of the current account deficit through a prolonged expansion, provide tentative evidence of reduced vulnerability of the new zealand economy and the sustainability of the current growth phase. new zealand ’ s reliance on offshore funding has fallen over the past decade, and the maturity of bank borrowing has lengthened, reducing the risks from a funding shock. the macroeconomic factors that have driven the improvement in our nfl position are varied, some potentially more transient or fortuitous than others. at least in part, however, it reflects a lower saving - investment imbalance, relative to the mid - 2000s. looking ahead, it appears that it would take a combination of factors, working together, to see nfl - gdp diverge materially from its current level of about 60 percent. that said, we have seen