ministry, training staff in the technical work, and producing the country ’ s own adjustment programme to be approved and monitored by the cabinet. the bank also supplied technical and administrative support to the tax commission which was established by the monetary council to review and make recommendations on tax policy and administration. the bank also gave specific support to the commonwealth of dominica, in its adjustment programme with both financial and technical assistance. the bank made two loans available to the country from the fiscal tranche and provided technical assistance for prolonged periods in the fiscal and debt areas. the year 2003 / 2004 was a very challenging, but productive year. in the year 2004 / 2005, the bank, taking into consideration the external environment and domestic circumstances of member countries has set out a programme of activities to respond to these circumstances. the external environment would take into consideration the following : ( i ) the economic performance of our main trading partners ; ( ii ) movements in the relative parities of our trading partners currencies, in this case the dollar, the euro, sterling and the canadian dollar ; ( iii ) trade arrangements, for example, preferential access to markets as in the case of sugar and bananas ; ( iv ) bilateral investment treaties and direct foreign investment ; ( v ) multilateral and bilateral aid arrangements and concessional flow ; ( vi ) remittances. the domestic circumstances which are of significance would be ( i ) the efficient allocation and utilisation of the factors of production ; ( ii ) appropriate development and structural policies ; ( iii ) fiscal and debt management policies and strategies ; ( iv ) appropriate interest rate and exchange rate policies. the bank in its programme for the fiscal year 2004 / 2005 will carefully monitor these factors and pay particular attention in its research programme to the following ( a ) the external environment and its impact on our reserve position, the competitiveness of the e c dollar and the balance of payments ; ( b ) the role of the tourist industry ; ( c ) the impact of oil prices ; ( d ) money and credit conditions in the currency union. the bank will be making a major effort to put in place the recommendations arising out of the fsap to strengthen the entire financial system in the currency union. this will require the fullest cooperation of the national authorities through the establishment of the proposed integrated regulatory units. the work on the development of money and capital markets will be accelerated with the objective of having a wider range of government securities and shares of private firms on the market. the efforts at

mark carney : summary of the latest monetary policy report update opening statement by mr mark carney, governor of the bank of canada, at a press conference following the release of the monetary policy report update, ottawa, 22 january 2009. * * * good morning. we are pleased to be here with you today to discuss the january monetary policy report update, which we published this morning. the outlook for the global economy has deteriorated since the october monetary policy report, with the intensifying financial crisis spilling over into real economic activity. heightened uncertainty is undermining business and household confidence worldwide and further eroding domestic demand. major advanced economies, including canada's, are now in recession, and emerging - market economies are increasingly affected. commodity prices – especially energy prices – have fallen as a result of substantially weaker global demand. stabilization of the global financial system is a precondition for economic recovery. to that end, governments and central banks are taking bold and concerted policy actions. there are signs that these extraordinary measures are starting to gain traction, although it will take some time for financial conditions to normalize. in addition, considerable monetary and fiscal policy stimulus is being provided worldwide. canadian exports are down sharply, and domestic demand is shrinking as a result of declines in real income, household wealth, and confidence. canada's economy is projected to contract through mid - 2009, with real gdp dropping by 1. 2 per cent this year on an annual average basis. as policy actions begin to take hold in canada and globally, and with support from the past depreciation of the canadian dollar, real gdp is expected to rebound, growing by 3. 8 per cent in 2010. a wider output gap through 2009 and modest decreases in housing prices should cause core cpi inflation to ease, bottoming at 1. 1 per cent in the fourth quarter. total cpi inflation is expected to dip below zero for two quarters in 2009, reflecting year - on - year drops in energy prices. with inflation expectations well - anchored, total and core inflation should return to the 2 per cent target in the first half of 2011 as the economy returns to potential. global developments pose significant upside and downside risks to the inflation projection. on the upside, the global economy could be stronger, if global fiscal stimulus turns out to be more expansionary than expected, or if aggressive policy actions taken across major economies restore confidence more quickly than projected. on the downside, the global recession could be deeper and more protracted because