liquidity buffers. taking cognizance of the existential threat of climate change and working together with our development partners including the international monetary fund and the european investment bank, we have embarked on our vision of greening the banking sector. towards this end we have issued the draft kenya green finance taxonomy ( kgft ) for public consultation. the kgft will serve as a reference for kenya's transition to being a green economy. on the payments system front, kenya has continued to be a global leader in digital financial services with an elaborate ecosystem. this has greatly expanded access to financial services in kenya from 26 percent in 2006 to 83 percent in 2021. the kenyan economy has also become more cash lite due to the advent of mobile money payments, with currency in circulation as percentage of gdp standing at 2. 1 percent in 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches 2023, way below other countries. in the past year have licensed additional payment service providers ( psps ) and digital credit providers ( dcps ) to provide additional choice and access to kenyans. on cross border payments, the cbk continues to support the east african payments system ( eaps ) and the pan - african payments and settlement system ( papss ). accordingly, cbk signed an agreement with afreximbank to enable kenyan financial institutions to join papss, which will enable them to participate in the continental payment system to spur intra - africa trade. overall, the various measures i have highlighted tonight have contributed significantly to restoring macroeconomic stability. overall inflation rate eased to cbk's target of 5. 0 percent in april 2024 compared to 8. 0 percent in may 2023. this is the lowest overall inflation since october 2020, 43 months ago. in addition, the shilling has appreciated by 17 % against the u. s. dollar since the beginning of 2024, making it the best performing currency globally, against major currencies. the appreciation has led to huge savings in debt service and reduced debt stock in kenya shillings - our shilling denominated debt declined by around 6 percent of gdp within a period of weeks. as i conclude, cbk will continue to build on these gains and reforms to safeguard macroeconomic and financial stability and support the government's economic growth objective. with improved investor confidence and sustained macro - stability, we expect the economy to remain strong in 2024, with growth projected at about 5. 7 percent, supported by agriculture, resili

second, the evidence to date suggests that, following the global crisis, households and businesses are considerably less willing to take on new debt. credit growth remains very subdued. we believe that this diminished appetite for debt will remain for some time as people and companies work to gradually strengthen their financial positions. third, unlike the situation over much of the past twenty years, new zealand is now facing an upward sloping yield curve – longer term interest rates are higher than short - term rates. this means that fixed rate mortgages are now more expensive than floating or very short - term fixed rate mortgages. this has seen many borrowers shift back to floating rates over the past two years. as a result, as we move the ocr higher it is likely to have more “ bite ” than it did previously. liquidity management as the global financial crisis broke, a key policy response from the reserve bank was the expansion of liquidity facilities that we provide to banks and other financial institutions, including a broadening of acceptable collateral instruments. this expansion of facilities was needed to ensure that the financial system remained liquid and that institutions could continue to make payments as required without creating undue stress in the interbank market. in particular, as the banks ’ access to global markets became very restricted in late 2008 – early 2009, the reserve bank provided access to term funding secured over mortgage backed securities. the banks also increased their use of parent funding during this period. with the crisis behind us, we have been reconsidering the appropriate role and scope of the reserve bank ’ s liquidity facilities. the crisis has demonstrated the value of liquidity support for fundamentally sound institutions in the face of systemic market disruptions. while it is important that institutions provide for their own liquidity in the first instance, it is clear that central bank liquidity facilities are an essential backstop at times when shocks to confidence cause market liquidity to dry up. key requirements for central bank facilities are that : their pricing encourages a return to normal market trading ; they are targeted at system liquidity, not individual institutions ; and they are fully collateralised. in light of the gfc experience and the bank ’ s broader mandate to promote the efficiency of the financial system, we intend in the future to adopt a somewhat broader approach to liquidity management than was the case prior to the crisis. the range of securities that we accept as collateral will be wider than in the past in order to help support liquidity in a number of key financial markets. such markets