tom alweendo : namibia ’ s monetary policy framework annual address by mr tom alweendo, governor of bank of namibia, windhoek, 6 november 2008. * * * introduction thank you for having accepted our invitation to come and listen to my annual address. this year i will focus my address on our monetary policy framework. this year ’ s choice of topic is motivated by our desire to be transparent in our conduct of monetary policy. international financial crisis allow me first to make few remarks on the global economic developments. by now we are all aware of the financial crisis that is afflicting the world economy and its adverse impact on economic growth world - wide. this crisis is made worse by the risk of high price - induced food and fuel crises. as a result, many countries are faced with the challenges of managing worsening balance of payments positions. for example, global economic growth is projected to decline this year and during 2009, potentially aggravating the financial crisis and thereby the loss of confidence in the financial markets. while the financial crisis is still only confined to the advance economies, there are uncertainties as to its impact on developing economies. depending on how long it may last, there is a greater risk that the crisis will spill - over to developing economies and that we will see further tightening in the commodity markets that will pose risks to growth in many commodity - exporting developing countries. in sub - saharan africa, for example, economic growth is projected to minimally slow from 6. 9 percent in 2007 to 6. 3 percent in 2008. in 2009 there is an expectation of a slow recovery to 6. 7 percent, due mainly to the relative macroeconomic stability in many of the ssa economies. however, it is likely that the region will be negatively impacted by conditions of food insecurity and inflationary pressure. in many of our countries in the region, the key challenge is therefore how to address the medium to long - term implications of the crisis with respect to macroeconomic stability, fiscal and current account balance, and growth sustainability. it is imperative that our policy should aim at improving infrastructure and to increase investment that is supportive of growth, strengthening the macroeconomic framework, and improving the business environment in order to avoid loss of competitiveness. the advanced economies that are affected by the financial crisis have responded by mainly using public funds to provide fiscal stimulus and liquidity support to their financial institutions. they argued that the long - term potential cost to society arising from the collapse of the

tom alweendo : announcement of the commencement date of the financial intelligence act 2007 speech by mr tom alweendo, governor of bank of namibia, at launching the awareness campaign on provisions of the financial intelligence act 2007, windhoek, 29 april 2009. * * * distinguished invited guests ; members of the media ; ladies and gentlemen ; i would like to welcome all of you to the bank of namibia this morning. the occasion today is to officially launch the commencement of the financial intelligence act and to also launch our public awareness campaign. as you are all by now aware, the financial intelligence act was enacted in 2007. the act empowers the bank of namibia, amongst others to receive suspicious transaction reports from reporting entities, to analyze such reports, and to disseminate the intelligence gathered to law enforcement agencies for further investigation and possible prosecution. the bank is further required to conduct compliance audits with all reporting entities to ensure effective adherence to this act. the key in combating money laundering through the reporting entities is to know who their customers are. if they know their customers well, they will be able to detect attempts at money laundering. in fulfilling this mandate, since 2007 we have been preparing ourselves to be ready with the implementation of the act. in this respect, i am happy to say that we have managed to build the necessary capacity and that we are more than ready to implement the act. due to some legislative delays, the bank was not able to commence with the implementation of the act as early as we would have wished. however, i am happy to report that the commencement date for the act is now set to be the 1st may 2009. in order to educate the public on money laundering, we are also starting with a comprehensive awareness campaign. this is necessary because we are only likely to successfully combat money laundering when the public in general understand as to what is at stake. financial crime, of which money laundering is part, is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon. this is despite the enactment of laws designed to curb financial crime. this is not only a threat to the global financial sector, but if allowed to flourish money laundering has the potential to become a threat to society. it can lead to the accumulation of economic power to organized crime. this development has the potential of eroding our political and social systems based on elected representation as we know them today. in other words, the social consequences for allowing money launderers to operate unchecked could spell disaster for stability and the rule of