us that companies always find ways to cope and innovate in the face of such challenges. we want to know how companies are dealing with uncertainty and the upheaval in the global trading system. we want to know if you are rethinking the value chains that you built in the past. if so, we want to know what kinds of alternative arrangements you are putting in place and what that may mean for productivity and prices. clearly, the canadian economy is not immune to global developments. we are watching for signs that adverse impacts of trade disputes are being felt beyond the export sectors that are directly affected. so far, all of the trade actions have been against firms in the goods sector, and the service sector has remained relatively resilient in most countries. we are looking to see the extent to which weakness from manufacturing may be spreading to services, employment, consumer spending or housing. in this regard, the most recent data have been mixed, so we continue to monitor the situation closely. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches by the way, next week we will begin publishing a regular report about the bank ’ s quarterly canadian survey of consumer expectations. from now on, we will publish this alongside our current report on the business outlook survey. taken together with data from our senior loan officer survey, these give a more complete picture of the expectations of consumers, firms and lenders as an input into our interest rate decisions. labour and housing markets a second area we will be watching closely is the intersection between canada ’ s labour and housing markets. our labour market has shown a healthy trend over the past year. even though growth in new jobs seems to have slowed very recently, wage growth has continued to strengthen. we will be watching the data carefully to see how much of the recent moderation persists. in this respect, it is important to understand that labour market conditions vary quite a bit across different regions. meanwhile, population growth has increased recently, driven by immigration. this, too, has varied across regions. provinces such as british columbia, ontario and quebec, where job growth has been strong, continue to attract the bulk of new immigrants. this combination of job growth and rising population has supported a rebound in housing over the past year. should this housing rebound continue, we will be watching for signs of extrapolative expectations returning to certain major housing markets — in other words, froth. the fact is, the fundamental demand for housing appears to be outpacing our ability to build

adnan zaylani mohamad zahid : launch of the world bank's islamic trade finance report opening remarks by mr adnan zaylani mohamad zahid, assistant governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the launch of the world bank's islamic trade finance report, 23 august 2021. * * * thank you to the world bank for inviting me today. i am pleased to be part of this event to launch the world bank ’ s islamic trade finance report. the publication of this special report will provide greater insights into the substantial role that islamic trade finance can play to support trade, foster growth, and accelerate post - pandemic recovery. i therefore, wish to congratulate the world bank for this timely contribution towards advancing islamic finance. it was recently reported by the world trade organization ( w to ) that global trade in goods, which has been at record highs, could be near its peak. some indicators point to a slowing with the outlook clouded by downside risks. the biggest threat being the pandemic which could undermine the recovery. global trade, at least in goods, has been quite robust and resistant to the economic adversity that we see in general across many sectors and economies. indeed, w to still expects the volume of merchandise trade to hit 8 % growth in 2021 after the 5. 3 % drop last year while the international monetary fund estimates expansion of 9. 7 percent in 2021. as a trading country, malaysia has certainly benefited from this despite the pandemic - related challenges to domestic activity. the country ’ s exports to major markets experienced double - digit growth, surpassing rm1 trillion in value in the first half of 20211. this has buffered us during the downtime for domestic activity, of which now with the re - opening of the economy we could expect a better recovery into the fourth quarter this year. enormous opportunities therefore, lie for islamic trade finance to support global trade and the post - pandemic recovery. globally, islamic trade finance has reached usd186 billion in size and is growing both in scale and in demand as islamic finance plays a more significant role in oic countries. in mitigating the impact of the pandemic and sustaining trade supply chains, the islamic trade finance corporation has also provided support, approving usd4. 7 billion of trade financing in 2020, to benefit member countries. so what would the report tell us of how islamic finance in malaysia has fare