njuguna ndung ’ u : taming of inflation and food security opening remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya and chairman of the monetary policy committee, during the monetary policy committee seminar on “ taming inflation and food security ”, the kenya school of monetary studies, nairobi, 14 august 2009. * * * permanent secretaries : ministry of finance ; ministry of planning, national development and vision 2030 ; ministry of agriculture ; ministry of trade ; ministry of special programmes ; representatives of our development partners ; chairmen and heads of government parastatals ; representatives of the private sector ; distinguished guests ; ladies and gentlemen ; it gives me great pleasure to be with you today during this important seminar on “ taming inflation and food security ”. let me take this opportunity from the onset to warmly welcome you all to the kenya school of monetary studies ( ksms ). as you may all be aware, the bank ’ s principal objective is to formulate and implement monetary policy directed at achieving and maintaining stability in the general level of prices, as well as supporting the economic policy of the government including its objectives of growth and employment. price stability is an important signal to the economy and provides a stable planning horizon to predict future prices and perhaps returns. most coordination failures occur due to the inability to forecast future prices or calculate, for example, return on investment. this seminar comes at a time when the country is just recovering from the effects of high inflation arising from supply side factors caused by several shocks. these shocks have an international as well as domestic dimension. they include volatile oil prices, commodity prices and drought conditions which continue to pose a challenge to the achievement of the bank ’ s core mandate of price stability. given these outcomes – that shocks tend to affect domestic prices upwards and domestic output downwards, simultaneously – we have to rethink the appropriate measure of inflation and how to target or contain it. but also, appropriately computing and reporting inflation becomes very critical – the information processed from the reported numbers on inflation leads directly to cost of living adjustment ( cola ) requests even at cbk! usually, the cbk must have some inflation target. but also this has to be consistent with inflation experience or profile for the general public as well as create the required consistency of the monetary framework and economic growth profile. this workshop should help in defining the appropriate inflation indicator. the emphasis that seems to converge is to come up with a single measure of inflation that can

koh yong guan : the economic outlook and monetary policy in singapore statement by mr koh yong guan, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, delivered at the mas annual report 1999 / 2000 media conference in singapore on 27 july 2000. * * * introduction we have had an eventful year as we supported singapore ’ s recovery from the asian crisis and persisted in our efforts to liberalise the financial sector. the economy turned in an impressive performance in 1999 compared with the year before, showing clear signals that we have emerged from the crisis. having weathered the crisis, the economy is now more resilient and better prepared for external shocks. let me first highlight some pertinent points on our outlook for the domestic economy as well as our monetary policy stance. the economic outlook and monetary policy in july last year, mas had noted that the singapore economy was picking up faster than expected, although recovery had not extended to all sectors. manufacturing had posted strong growth in the first half of 1999, but construction, commerce, and most financial services remained weak. the economy was still operating below potential, and the inflation outlook was benign. mas therefore took a neutral exchange rate policy stance, to reinforce the government ’ s cost reduction measures and facilitate economic recovery. the trade - weighted s $ remained roughly unchanged over the past year, fluctuating within its usual band, although the s $ bilateral exchange rates varied significantly against individual major currencies on account of volatility in the global currency markets. reflecting the strength of the us dollar, the sing dollar, along with most other major currencies, depreciated against the us dollar in the first half of this year. however, the sing dollar appreciated against the euro, the australian dollar, pound sterling and some of the regional currencies over the same period. the external environment has since strengthened. the industrial countries except japan are enjoying strong economic growth. the regional economies have shown more vigour and resilience than was expected. against these positive developments, singapore ’ s gdp rose by 5. 4 % in 1999. the economy grew further by a robust 8. 4 % in h1 2000. both external and domestic demand have expanded strongly. real non - oil domestic exports grew by about 12 % in the first six months of 2000, boosted by the continued strength of global electronics demand. the turnaround in the regional economies has underpinned strong service exports and boosted the commerce and transport and communications sectors. domestic consumption has