and exquisite boutiques that chinese travellers fancy, we offer the chinese tourist a unique experience, a tranquil environment, beautiful sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and the warmth of the fijian people, in the only place “ where happiness finds you ”. numbers and earnings from chinese visitors to fiji have grown tremendously over the last 6 years. from just 4, 000 in 2009, chinese visitor numbers increased to 28, 000 in 2014, a seven - fold increase. they have already surpassed 30, 000 this year, and were more than 47 percent higher than the corresponding first nine months of 2014. similarly, annual tourism earnings from china have increased from $ 12 million to $ 45 million over the last 6 years from 2009. with the aim of growing the chinese tourist market in fiji, the government has embarked on specific initiatives including visa - free travel, a travel guidebook in chinese and the acceptance by nearly half the atms in the country of union pay credit cards. tourism fiji also conducts outreach programs to promote fiji as a travel destination and rosie holidays recently ventured into providing special chartered flights for tourists from shanghai to fiji. we understand this will continue in early 2016. furthermore, the opening of a new fijian trade commission in shanghai in 2014 and the proposed free trade agreement between fiji and china, are expected to further boost trade and investment opportunities between the two countries. bis central bankers ’ speeches investment, loans & aid ladies and gentlemen, china is also an important investment partner for fiji, evident in the many development projects that have already been completed and others that are currently ongoing in the country. some of these include the vodafone arena, the us $ 158 million nadarivatu hydroelectric - power project, the navua hospital and highway road projects in vanua levu. chinese companies have also bought stakes in vatukoula gold mines limited and invested heavily in our primary industries for bauxite and fishing. china ’ s financial assistance to fiji made the country one of the largest recipients of china ’ s loans in the pacific region. as of september this year total loans were approximately $ 521 million or around 38 percent of our external debt. conclusion your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. fiji recently celebrated 160 years of the chinese community living in fiji, marking the much longer relationship and presence that china has had with fiji. our local chinese community has played a substantial role in fiji ’ s nation building and contributed significantly to the economy through agriculture, fishing, construction, health and retail business

visible. but there are other, more indirect, costs as well. the lockdown and indiscriminate government support prevent market forces from doing their job. a dynamic economy needs to constantly renovate itself through creative destruction, a process which is now impeded. and if we keep the patient on medicine for too long, withdrawal symptoms will increase. on the other hand, if we retract policy support too quickly, there is a good chance that the patient will stumble and fall, putting a healthy recovery back for many months. so policymakers will have to be constantly mindful of this trade - off, observe the patient very closely, and adjust the pace and sequence of tapering measures accordingly. in terms of the european economy – once we approach the recovery phase, we could start discussing the withdrawal of emergency support measures, which would also mean gradually allowing market forces back in. however, we should tread carefully in all scenarios, because the risk of retracting policy support too quickly will likely continue to outweigh the risk of unwinding it too slowly for some time to come. this is especially true for fiscal policy. it ’ s important that governments do not withdraw their fiscal stimulus until we have made a good start with the recovery. this may well take us to year - end at least. once the worst is over, fiscal spending can slowly shift from emergency to recovery. this means gradually replacing general blanketed support with more targeted support, and income support with public investment. the next generation eu recovery fund will be a key building block to get this investment going. this helps meeting the challenge of the much - needed energy transition, and raises the growth potential of our economies. and growth is something that we will also need very badly to bring down sovereign debt levels. monetary policy in the eurozone will have to continue to support the recovery. as we are in the silent period today, all i can do is repeat that generic statement we have been making numerous times. next to fiscal and monetary policy, an important question is how to deal with the rise in corporate debt levels. under the warm blanket of government support programs, the financial position of corporates has deteriorated. as policymakers start to withdraw support, even if they do so gradually, we will likely see a rise in the number of business that are not going to survive. to some extent this is inevitable. for example in the case of firms that were already vulnerable before the crisis. or firms whose business models are no