prof. njuguna ndung ’ u : “ being a driver of change to invest differently in women ” keynote address by prof. njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the dinner hosted by the african development bank and new faces new voices network gender equality and financial inclusion, restaurant les quatre coins du monde, abidjan, cote d ’ ivoire, 25 may 2010. * * * dr. donald kaberuka, president, african development bank ; madame graca machel, founder, new faces new voices network ; distinguished guests ; ladies and gentlemen it is indeed an honour and privilege for me to address this gathering tonight following the fruitful discussions during the african women ’ s economic summit held in march 2010 in nairobi, kenya. i would like to take this opportunity to thank the african development bank and the new faces new voices network for organizing tonight ’ s dinner. this event provides a platform to raise awareness about commitments made at the summit and the need to invest differently in women. it also offers us the opportunity to review the various pledges made at the summit and to recommend concrete actions for the way forward. ladies and gentlemen, women form a big proportion of the population and command a sizeable role in our societies ’ socio - economic activities and are therefore important economic and social change agents. in africa, women constitute more than half of the population and form the majority of our labour force, especially in agricultural activities and household welfare, which remain the backbone of our economies. a large number of them also run micro, small and medium enterprises ( msmes ) that constitute a significant share of economic activity in our economies. it cannot be doubted, therefore, that women play a critical role in the process of economic development in the african continent. despite this, women have remained largely marginalized in terms of access to, and control of resources that are crucial in wealth creation, welfare and the development process. an example from my own country, kenya, in terms of access to finance illustrates this clearly. although two national financial access surveys conducted in 2006 and 2009 have shown general improvements in financial access with access to formal finance improving from 19 to 23 percent ; semi - formal improving from 8 to 18 percent ; informal declining from 35 to 27 percent ; and the excluded falling from 38 to 33 percent ; access to finance has remained worse for women with 66 percent of women not accessing formal financial services and 33 percent being excluded altogether from any form of

thus, in 2015, demand conditions will contribute to the disinflation process. although we expect the growth composition to change in favor of domestic final demand, we believe that the current account deficit will continue to improve on the back of the macroprudential measures and the improved terms of trade. as you all know, food, energy and import prices also play a great role in inflation forecasts. therefore, before moving on to forecasts, i will briefly talk about our assumptions regarding these variables. in the fourth quarter of 2014, oil and import prices remained well below the projections of the october inflation report ( chart 17 ). accordingly, we revised our medium - term assumptions of oil and import prices significantly downwards. in view of the direct and indirect effects of these developments, we revised the end - 2015 inflation forecast down by 0. 6 percentage points compared to the previous reporting period. in food prices, we left the end - 2015 inflation forecast unchanged at 9 percent. our medium - term projections are based on the assumption that tax adjustments and administered prices are consistent with inflation targets and automatic pricing mechanisms. the medium - term fiscal policy stance is based on the medium term program projections covering the 2015 – 2017 period. accordingly, we assume that a tight fiscal stance will be implemented and the primary expenditures to the gdp ratio will decrease gradually. 3. inflation and the monetary policy outlook now, i would like to present our inflation and output gap forecasts based on the outlook i have described so far. our medium - term forecasts are based on a framework that we will adopt a cautious approach to make the improvement in inflation outlook permanent and maintain the tight monetary policy stance by keeping the yield curve flat. moreover, we assess that the annual loan growth rate will stabilize around the recent reasonable levels, also thanks to the macroprudential measures. accordingly, we expect inflation to be, with 70 percent probability, between 4. 1 percent and 6. 9 percent ( with a mid - point of 5. 5 percent ) at end2015 and between 3. 2 percent and 6. 8 percent ( with a mid - point of 5 percent ) at end - 2016. we project inflation to stabilize around 5 percent in the medium term ( chart 18 ). in sum, we revised our end - 2015 inflation forecast down by 0. 6 points to 5. 5 percent from 6. 1 percent in the october inflation report. this revision is driven by falling oil prices. the projected noticeable decline in inflation compared to 2014