out all the supervisory activities previously done by the cmda, but with a more strategic and focused approach. a list of indicators are being developed which will measure developments in the capital markets within certain time frames. these indicators are currently being drafted by the unit and you should expect to be contacted to comment or assist in its development. let me turn to the purpose for this evening. launching of the stock market index tonight we will witness the launching of the spse total return index ( stri ). this stri will be very useful in gauging how the equities markets in fiji are performing on a daily basis. the concept, i am told, is similar to the various stock market indices that you are all familiar with – for example, the nzsx, asx, sing sx, etc. i am sure that in developing and maintaining its own index, the spse should be able to provide great assistance to issuers and investors both at home and internationally, to monitor the level of market activity and make better and informed investment decisions and choices. tonight, we will also be unveiling the new corporate logo for the exchange. i have also been briefed that the purpose of changing the logo was to give a more professional and corporate look to better reflect the role of the exchange and its progress over the thirty years. i am confident, that if provided the right policy and direction, the fiji capital markets and the financial markets as a whole will be well placed to become a reputable international financial centre for the region in time to come. i hope that the exchange will grow from strength to strength in the years ahead. thank you.

these stark differences across demographic groups in terms of levels of unemployment are also evident in terms of how unemployment changed over business cycles, including the great recession. while the overall unemployment rate increased from 5 percent in december 2007 to 10 percent in october 2009, it increased substantially more for workers with lower earnings. in other words, looking at the national unemployment rate tells only part of the story of the labor market experiences for different groups of individuals. understanding this diversity is critical to better understanding the health of the labor market and the overall economy, and is important for informing policy. now let ’ s turn to housing. macroeconomists focus on aggregate residential construction as a measure of how the housing sector is contributing to overall economic growth. it is important to note, however, that housing market experiences vary substantially across individuals in ways not reflected in the aggregate construction data. for example, the type of housing units typically occupied by low - income households saw higher - than - average rent inflation from 2009 to 2011. much of this difference appears to be due to contrasting ways that additions to the housing stock enter into different segments of the housing market. for households in the highest income quintile, new construction more than accounts for the net increase in housing bis central bankers ’ speeches units, which in turn tends to hold down rent increases for these households. however, as one moves down the income distribution, new construction represents a smaller share of the net increase in housing units. for households in the lowest income quintile, additions to rental supply come more from units that with age have depreciated and are no longer rented by higher income households. these supply additions tend to have higher rents than existing units rented by low - income households, thus putting upward pressure on rental costs. the diversity of experiences is also evident with respect to access to mortgage credit, both for households attempting to transition to homeownership and for homeowners who want to trade up. we have also been monitoring mortgage originations at the zip code level using the new york fed ’ s consumer credit panel. when we rank zip codes by their 2012 average adjusted gross income, we see mortgage origination volume in the lowest quintile locations was 38 percent of the volume for the highest quintile locations in 2007. by early 2015, this ratio had fallen to only 14 percent. as highlighted by these examples, and as you ’ ll hear during today ’ s presentation, data at the aggregate level and at a more micro - level illustrate different