t t mboweni : south africa - a land of hope and opportunity remarks by mr t t mboweni, governor of the south african reserve bank, at an anc breakfast meeting, johannesburg, 22 june 2005. * * * ladies and gentlemen distinguished guests thank you for inviting me here this morning to say a word or two about the south african economy. when i received this invitation to be here this morning, a number of questions arose in my mind. the primary one being whether a governor of a central bank should speak at occasions such as this which are organised by political organisations. it was a vexing question which required of me a serious answer. central bank governors have to demonstrate at all times their commitment to the independence of central banks from political influence. in fact central bank independence also means rebutting any attempt by anyone including market participants to influence their decisions or interfere in their operational work. at the same time, central bank governors have to engage in extensive communications with the markets, the general population, governments and parliaments. so any opportunity to communicate should be seriously considered and if time permits, should be entertained whether from a political party, market participants or any other organisation which is reputable. so any political organisations wishing to invite me to their functions are welcome to do so. we just have to negotiate time. it is against this background that i accepted your invitation to be here this morning. south africa is still very much a country in transition. it is a country of many hopes and opportunities. firstly, the political system is maturing. most certainly, the political system is entrenching democratic values and systems. people stand for elections within their parties - sometimes squabbling very badly privately and in the media in their endeavours to be elected, they avail themselves as candidates for local council chambers, provincial legislatures and the national parliament. debate is generally developing in its robustness. more often than not acrimoniously so. not a place for the weak! secondly the media - the fourth estate - is lively and maturing too. public officials and private executives are closely scrutinised to check on their performances and good corporate governance standing in order to move the country forward. the media questions and exposes. sometimes their approach is certainly questionable but on the whole they are making a good contribution to our society. there is room for improvement particularly in financial journalism - a matter being attended to by some journalism schools. but an open and democratic society by definition requires a vigorous

ben s bernanke : remarks speech by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the presidenta€™s working group market stability initiative announcement, washington dc, 14 october 2008. * * * good morning. before i begin, i want to express my appreciation of my colleagues, secretary paulson and chairman bair, for their efforts in what has been an extraordinary collaboration. as americans well know, the challenges evident in the financial markets and in the economy are large and complex, but i believe that the steps taken today will help us to overcome them. our strategy will continue to evolve and be refined as we adapt to new developments and the inevitable setbacks. but we will not stand down until we have achieved our goals of repairing and reforming our financial system and thereby restoring prosperity to our economy. over the past year, the federal reserve has actively used all its powers and authorities to try to help our economy through this difficult time. and central banks around the world have consulted closely and cooperated in unprecedented ways to reduce strains in financial markets and to bolster our economies. we will continue to do so. however, clearly the time had come for a more comprehensive and broad - based solution. history teaches us that government engagement in times of severe financial crisis often arrives very late, usually at a point at which most financial institutions are insolvent or nearly so. waiting too long to act has usually led to much greater direct costs of the intervention itself and, more importantly, magnified the painful effects of financial turmoil on households and businesses. that is not the situation we face today. fortunately, the congress and the administration have acted at a time when the great majority of financial institutions, though stressed by highly volatile and difficult market conditions, remain capable of fulfilling their critical function of providing new credit for our economy. the congress's prompt and decisive action in passing the financial rescue legislation made possible the critical steps that have been announced this morning. i also find it heartening that we are seeing not just a national, but a global response to the crisis, commensurate with its global nature. indeed, this past weekend, the finance ministers and central bankers of the group of seven industrialized countries announced a set of principles embodying a comprehensive approach to dealing with the crisis. the steps we are taking today are fully consistent with those principles. as in all past crises, at the root of the problem is a loss of confidence