of exchange controls the existing exchange controls in the region were analysed by a sub - committee of the governors ’ committee with a view to gradual harmonisation. participating countries are being encouraged to remove remaining exchange controls for transactions within the region as quickly as possible. arrangements were made for the repatriation of banknotes amongst participating countries, and for an easing of private sector investments across borders in the region. three countries, i. e. botswana, mauritius and zambia, have removed all exchange controls and some others are making steady progress in the implementation of this programme. a vision for the future as already mentioned, the sadc organisation is a political association that covers a much wider objective than just financial cooperation within the region. this wider objective, however, has more potential for disputes and friction, and will also at times be constrained by the red - tape of a long drawn - out inter - governmental decision - making process. i believe that the committee of governors of the central banks of sadc provides a unique body that should be able to proceed with a programme of financial cooperation in the region, without being unduly constrained by the more complex political decision - making processes. at this stage, i believe work should continue to proceed on the accepted road of focusing on identified projects that can be developed on a regional basis without full economic integration of the 14 countries now forming part of sadc. most of these programmes will also not require any formal inter - governmental agreements. in the process, we shall provide a basis for gradual but effective cooperation and integration of the financial systems and markets of southern africa. in the longer term, the vision should be : • to make it possible for residents of the whole sadc region to move funds around within the region without formal exchange control restrictions or border controls ; • to make it possible for residents of the region to invest in the shares of companies in every country of the region without restriction, to buy and sell on any one of a series of closely - linked stock exchanges, and to arrange for settlement anywhere in the region ; and • to make it possible for business people to do their business, whatever kind of business it might be, anywhere in the region without any undue financial restriction. to reach these objectives, however, i believe that the central banks of the region should, for the time being, continue to work on an almost informal way to establish a sound basis for the more ambitious plan of eventual full economic integration of the region. the momentum built up over the past

. this downward revision is mainly as a result of the downscaling of the growth projections for the emerging economies. the downwardly revised growth outlook for emerging - market economies is mainly attributable to the relative slowdown in china which faces overcapacity in its traditional industries, a property oversupply, an erosion of its competitive advantages, and elevated levels of debt. other large emerging - market economies are, however, also feeling the strain, in particular those which have a high degree of dependence on commodity exports. furthermore, investor risk aversion towards emerging - market assets has been rising against a backdrop of market uncertainties about the timing and impact of us policy rate normalisation coupled with concerns about the economic slowdown in asia and the impact of lower commodity prices. this has contributed to significant capital flow reversals from bis central bankers ’ speeches emerging - market economies, and the institute of international finance has recently projected that emerging markets will see net capital outflows this year for the first time since 1988. 1 why these developments matter to africa these international developments are highly relevant for sub - saharan africa. at the time of the global financial crisis, regional growth was relatively sheltered from adverse developments in the major economies. regional gdp, for instance, continued to grow by 4, 1 per cent in 2009, whereas most of the advanced economies and some emerging - market economies were in recession. the lack of depth in most african financial markets as well as the limited linkages between their banking systems and those of the advanced economies had in part explained africa ’ s relative resilience. however, africa appears to have become more vulnerable to global developments since then. the exposure of sub - saharan economies, particularly to china – which is now a key contributor to the global slowdown – has continued to increase over recent years. 2 the region ’ s exports to china have grown, on average, by around 25 per cent per year between 2000 and 2014, far outpacing the growth rates of less than 10 per cent for exports to the us and the eu. according to the imf, china in 2014 accounted for more than 20 per cent of exports in about 15 sub - saharan countries, including angola, the drc, south africa and zambia. interestingly, exports to the other brics economies also increased over the past decade, by close to 20 per cent on an annual basis. but china ’ s relevance for african economies is not limited to trade links. according to the united nations conference