can never make sure of hiring or promoting the right person, and therefore one should plan on an easy change of personnel to get the best results. let me make a controversial statement on the platforms of the various political parties in terms of spending more and taxing less. we routinely run the general equilibrium model and the inflation targeting model as well as market implied models or mime, a technical word that is used for trying to find things out from people ’ s normal actions that could be captured in a data system. we also, of course, do single equation estimates as well as pure intuition from graphs and tables and such things. our staff is generally of the opinion that increased expenditure and tax reduction of moderate amounts will not destabilise the economy. this is predominantly because the economy is still very docile with a capacity utilisation stable for quite a while now at 58 %. cost push inflation from the exchange rate and the oil prices are now substantially absorbed or have been passed on, so cost push also is not presently much of a factor. the important thing though is how to make expenditure useful and constructive in the long run without too much leakage. the important thing is how to make tax cuts reasonable and directed towards the areas where people benefiting from the cuts could utilise it for a spate of new investment. if this were to happen the debt to gdp ratio might not increase significantly due to the resulting increase in gdp over the long term. with abundant liquidity and low interest rates, this is not just a time for a general tax cut for its own sake, but a program must be designed for it to be directed to where investment could best be made. in a way, this is not as easy as it seems, because generally we have been over investing and have great overcapacity. but it ’ s also not as hard as it might look. there are only a few areas that are really doing well, and benefits from the cuts could be directed there. the problem is how to make it fairly just, so that not only the good players that are already there benefit, but new players should be brought in to these all important areas. ladies and gentlemen, i have been giving you some of my thoughts on the economy. thoughts that are spotty and veer obviously somewhat to the financial aspects. the new government must be much more comprehensive. but since this is not a party platform but only some comments to make more apparent the effect of what might happen in

and hence lessen possible market turbulence during times of financial stress. as i have outlined here, numerous advantages for member countries and for the region as a whole can be expected from the launch of the aec in just a few years from now. however, capitalizing on these opportunities will not be automatic. asean leaders will need to step up their efforts in their preparatory works to achieve a credible and meaningful start. for one thing, boosting each member country ’ s competitiveness and addressing key structural problems should be priorities that lie primarily with respective nations. furthermore, to ensure sustainable success of regional economic integration, growth must be inclusive both within and between member countries. to this end, the equitable economic development pillar of the aec blueprint calls on member states to narrow the development gap within asean through mutual assistance and cooperation. under this pillar, subregional programs such as the greater mekong subregion ( gms ) economic cooperation have been underway to accelerate economic integration of the newer members through various capacity bis central bankers ’ speeches building and infrastructure projects. this would help spread the benefits of growth more widely and evenly while enabling the aec to take advantage of the potential source of synergies by bringing the capital and know - how of the more mature economies together with the competitive costs and abundant resources of the new frontier member countries. another key element for sustainability of this ambitious effort towards a pan - asian economic integration is to bring on board private sector involvement to draw in private expertise as well as private capital in funding and operation of intra - regional investment projects. in this regard, greater efforts should be made to raise awareness of aec among the business community in sustaining high levels of collaborative economic dynamism within the region. last but not least, since regional integration relies much on harmonization and coordination of cross - national policies with strong commitment by national leaders in implementing the agreed arrangements, political stability and peaceful relationship among member states will prove imperative to the success. this calls for the promotion of peace and stability within the region with fair mechanism to arbitrate disputes to ensure that progress on economic integration will not be delayed or discontinued due to conflicts among member nations. concluding remark ladies and gentlemen, i have spoken at length, from a subject of a volatile world, onto more structural issues facing asian economies, and the regional cooperative forces that provide promising ways forward for asia. let me now wrap up by leaving you with a final remark on these issues. in these uncertain times and with all the increased interconnected