ben s bernanke : introduction of the new $ 100 note brief remarks by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the new $ 100 note unveiling event, us treasury department, washington dc, 21 april 2010. * * * thank you, madame treasurer. a sound currency is the bedrock of a sound economy. therefore, the united states government must stay ahead of counterfeiters and protect the integrity of our currency. the three agencies represented here today all share this important responsibility, and today we come together to unveil the latest phase in our efforts – the new design for the $ 100 note. since the u. s. notes first issued by the treasury department in 1862, our national currency has played an integral role in the fortunes of our country. the federal reserve only assumed responsibility for issuing u. s. currency following the passage of the federal reserve act in 1913. as our nation ’ s central bank, we have a wide range of responsibilities related to paper money, from ensuring an adequate supply to protecting and maintaining confidence in our currency. together with our partners at the treasury department, its bureau of engraving and printing, and the united states secret service, we continuously monitor the counterfeiting threats for each denomination, and make redesign decisions based on these threats. this job has become more complex in recent years as technology advances and u. s. dollar flows expand and increase. in just the past 25 years, the value of federal reserve notes in circulation has grown from $ 180 billion to $ 890 billion, an increase of almost 400 percent. and while in the past, most u. s. dollars were held domestically, today many of these notes circulate outside of our borders. in fact, we estimate that as many as two - thirds of all $ 100 notes circulate outside the united states. for this reason, we must ensure that the people around the world who rely on the $ 100 note are educated about changes that we make to its design. we will unveil the new design for the $ 100 note in just a few moments and the federal reserve will begin putting these notes into circulation on february 10, 2011. in the intervening months the federal reserve, together with our partners represented here today, will reach out to businesses and consumers all over the world to raise awareness about the new design and explain how to use its security features. this global public education program is crucial to the successful introduction of

jean - pierre roth : global and swiss economic outlook introductory remarks by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the end - of - year media news conference, zurich, 10 december 2009. * * * by and large, our assessment of the economic and monetary situation is the same as in september 2009, with economic and financial developments running according to expectations. risks remain significant, and for this reason we are maintaining our expansionary monetary policy. global economic outlook before i address the outlook for the swiss economy, allow me to briefly examine economic developments at the international level, since they affect the outlook for switzerland. signs of a recovery in global economic activity gathered strength during the second half of 2009. the ongoing normalisation of conditions on the interbank and financial markets, together with the monetary and fiscal stimuli, supported a recovery in production, especially in the manufacturing industry. however, the legacy of the crisis still weighs heavily. the economic rebound of the past few months is largely the result of public sector intervention, and is not yet anchored firmly enough. except in emerging asia, the rebound has only partly redressed the losses sustained in 2008 and early 2009. capacity utilisation rates are still generally low, and access to bank lending remains difficult in some countries. moreover, both the labour market situation and the need to restore savings levels are weighing on household consumer spending. therefore, we still hold the view that the return to global equilibrium will be slower and more uncertain than is usually the case at the end of a recession. swiss economic outlook the swiss economy is also on the road to recovery : swiss gdp growth turned positive in the third quarter. however, value added continued to contract in the manufacturing industry. overall, demand for labour is still falling and unemployment numbers are on the rise. we are projecting a moderate recovery for 2010. private consumption growth will be held back by weak household income growth. exports will benefit from a gradual return to strength of external demand. this should allow manufacturing production to recover, albeit unevenly across the different segments. in particular, new orders in the equipment goods segment will probably continue to suffer from the excess capacity at the international level. in switzerland, too, the increase in manufacturing production will not be enough to allow excess production capacity to be reabsorbed. consequently, equipment investment is unlikely to see any improvement for several quarters, and there could be a fall in the number of manufacturing jobs. in the construction industry, on the other hand