to banks. for example, kenyans living within 3km of a mobile phone money agent is 58. 6 % or 23. 64 million compared to only 21. 2 % or 8. 57 million living near a bank branch. ladies and gentlemen : the results we are releasing today are as a result of developments in the wider economy, infrastructural facilities, technological innovation, institutional developments, natural features, as well as financial system policy and regulatory reforms, increased competition and innovations in the financial market. these developments have set off a dramatic shift away from the traditional delivery of financial services. in the delivery of financial services, innovations using technology such as automatic teller machines ( atms ), point - of - sale ( pos ) devices, the internet and mobile phone platforms and its interlinkages with financial institutions platforms have accelerated and moved us closer to branchless banking. we, however, still have some ground to cover in expanding access to financial services, given that about 25 % of the population remains totally excluded. ladies and gentlemen : the information generated by this spatial mapping exercise will help financial service providers identify where opportunities exist. i am delighted that the sector now has such a useful information resource at its disposal. the results from all these efforts will help the public and private sector to better understand the developments and dynamism of the broader kenyan financial market landscape and its dynamics in order to develop appropriate policy strategies and products as well as delivery channels to targeted clientele that they have not served before. ladies and gentlemen : the gis spatial mapping project brings forth more information necessary to satisfy the objectives of the financial access partnership, which remain ; ( i ) to provide information to policymakers about the main barriers to financial access and inclusion ; bis central bankers ’ speeches ( ii ) to provide information to the private sector on market conditions and opportunities ; ( iii ) to provide a solid empirical basis to track progress on financial inclusion and evaluate the effect of government, donor and industry led initiatives ; ( iv ) to provide data for use in research into the impact of access to financial services and products on growth, development and poverty reduction. in conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, let me also observe that the finaccess studies have been championed and driven by a partnership between public and private institutions. i commend and support such initiatives and hope that this lays the foundation for a deeper and sustained partnership between the public and private sector in tackling the challenges and taking advantage of opportunities that arise. in this

as you may well know, the british pound and italia lira were subsequently forced to abandon the exchange rate mechanism. the existence of exchange rate crises and speculative attacks thus serves as clear empirical evidence in favour of the uncovered interest rate parity. in addition, recent empirical studies based on advanced econometric techniques and using intraday data have shown that when the historical data are used properly the result may support the uncovered interest rate parity concept. the exchange rate plays a crucial role for the czech economy as well and is therefore an important part of our forecasting devices. and yes, the core forecasting model we use relies on the uncovered interest rate parity equation. it is also true that the movements of the exchange rate observed recently have surprised us to a certain extent. these surprises, however, should be taken as economic shocks that no economic relationship could have predicted. we central bankers are not very interested in short - term volatilities, but we should not miss breaks in the business cycle. for this task we need a relationship that has an economic grounding in the profitmaximising behaviour of the financial markets. and this is what the uncovered interest rate parity certainly has, and what the statistical models lack. ladies and gentlemen, allow me to wish to all of us fewer exchange rate surprises and the best possible forecasts!