bank of uganda remarks by prof. emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile governor, bank of uganda uganda banker ’ s association informal dinner piato restaurant 2nd december, 2016 good evening ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming here this evening for our informal uba dinner. i spoke last week at the institute of banking and financial services annual banking dinner about the current challenges facing the banking industry. tonight i would like to make a few brief remarks about the current macroeconomic situation and prospects, notably as regards economic growth, the exchange rate and inflation. real economic growth, over the last five years, has averaged about five percent per annum. this is very likely close to the economy ’ s sustainable potential growth rate, given growth of the labour force, capital stock and productivity. in the last fiscal year, which ended in june 2016, real gdp growth was 4. 8 percent, which is slightly below potential, but is far from being a recession as some people have claimed, although i appreciate that trading conditions have been difficult for many businesses. there were factors which probably depressed economic growth in fy 2015 / 16, such as the increase in market interest rates, the exchange rate volatility in the first half of the fiscal year and the election in the third quarter. without an election, and with probably lower interest rates and hopefully less volatile exchange rates ( although that is hard to predict ) i would expect that conditions in the current fiscal year will be more conducive to growth and so i would expect that we will experience a small rise in the real gdp growth, to five percent or even slightly higher. let me now turn to the exchange rate, which has depreciated in recent weeks, after a long period – nearly 11 months – of stability. against the us dollar, the shilling has depreciated by 4. 7 percent since the end of october. however, more than half of that depreciation is attributable to the strengthening of the us dollar against major currencies since the presidential election in the us, which has led to expectations of higher interest rates in that country. my staff calculates an index of the uganda shilling against a weighted basket of uganda ’ s trading partners. this index – called the nominal effective exchange rate index – has depreciated by only 2. 3 percent since the end of october. furthermore, a nominal depreciation of the exchange rate has been necessary to ensure that uganda remains competitive against its trading

gent sejko : oversight, analysis and vision of public governance in albania speech by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, at the presentation of the supreme state audit annual review 2015, tirana, 1 february 2016. * * * your excellency president of the republic of albania, dear chairman of the supreme state audit institution, honourable chairman of the parliamentary committee on economy and finance, your excellency ambassador lu, your excellency minister, dear representatives of public institutions, honourable mps, dear professors, dear participants, it is a special pleasure for me to be here today on the occasion of the annual review of the activity of the supreme state audit ( alsai ) for 2015. alsai is among the most important constitutional institutions in albania, whose objective – ensuring good management of public finances – is highly significant. the effective use and certification of public funds in conformity with the laws regulating the economic and financial activity of the public sector, on - going public communication, in relation to irregularities and relevant responsibilities have been at the focus of alsai ’ s work in recent years. in this perspective, the role and mission of the alsai are highly important ; therefore, the issues raised in alsai ’ s reports should be thoroughly analysed. they are both necessary and preventive instruments for the institutions subjected to alsai ’ s audit. notably, the bank of albania and alsai have had a fruitful cooperation, in line with both current and prospective dynamics and developments. we have made constant and joint efforts so that the conclusions and recommendations left by alsai become a useful, guiding, helpful, and corrective tool. in view of the insofar experience, this combination is an essential component in the work of audit institutions. i have believed and still do believe that auditing is a key instrument, which serves to further perfecting public sector governance. the alsai has contributed and will continue to contribute to identifying various problems facing public institutions, divergences from legal and regulatory framework, with subsequent financial effects, and their correction, in accordance with legal requirements and international standards. focusing on the future role of alsai, i am confident it will increase the contribution to perfecting the three main dimensions – oversight, analysis, and vision – of public governance. more specifically, • with regard to the oversight dimension, the great dilemma is whether public entities are accomplishing their mission in detecting and preventing corruption ; • with regard to the analysis dimension, the