as to stimulate activities in other sectors of the economy, too. governments and social partners have started initiatives to enable labour markets to function more efficiently. the remarkable performance in employment growth in the past few years also reflects an increasing proportion in part - time employment and points to some improvements in labour market flexibility. further improvements in labour markets can be supported from many sides. the social partners will play a key role by adhering further to a path of moderate wage increases, in line with price stability, and taking into account both productivity developments and the need to reduce the level of unemployment further. the benefits of such behaviour have already been seen. moreover, there is a broad consensus that the larger part of the still high level of unemployment is of a structural nature ; this challenge needs to be addressed continuously by policies which remove structural rigidities from the labour markets and which diminish adverse incentives provided by tax, benefit and pension systems. ongoing structural reform will be particularly important with regard to the changing character of jobs in an economy which needs to be open to rapid advances in new technologies and globalisation. the governing council feels that the first 22 months of monetary union have been very successful. it is determined to continue addressing the challenges related to monetary policy and is confident that other policy areas will play their part in the overall policy framework of the community and the euro area.

4th fmo ’ s future of finance conference theaterhangaar, katwijk, netherlands keynote address by dr. patrick njoroge governor, central bank of kenya september 26, 2016 as prepared for delivery good morning! i am greatly honored to be here today. i would like to thank the dutch development bank ( fmo ) for organizing this conference on the important theme future of finance, their gracious hospitality, and the invitation to speak to such a distinguished audience on the impact of disruptive technology on financial inclusion. new technologies have profoundly transformed societies the world over. in the last decade, we have witnessed an unprecedented upsurge of technology - driven innovations that are transforming africa ’ s economic landscape. coupled with globalization — the other significant trend of our time — these innovations offer immense possibilities for achieving inclusive economic growth, sustainable development, and poverty reduction. the outcomes with respect to financial services in kenya and the rest of sub - saharan africa, have so far been astounding. in the words of nelson mandela, “ it always seems impossible until it is done. ” this conference provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on kenya ’ s journey of embracing innovative and disruptive technology as a tool for financial inclusion, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. an analogous example may be appropriate and illustrative. it is evident how profoundly dutch masters changed the art of painting, as their disruptive innovations challenged the existing paradigms and offered new possibilities that were previously unimaginable. it is also significant that rembrandt and van gogh absorbed studiously the methods of the time before launching their careers and developing their own innovative approaches. embracing this same spirit, let me first turn to a few considerations of the current setting. first, mobile phone technology has allowed kenya to make substantial progress in financial inclusion. there are some 38. 3 million mobile phone subscribers in kenya, a penetration rate of 89 percent. in addition, the network of mobile money agents has grown significantly, from 527 agents in june 2007 to 164, 465 in june 2016. these factors have allowed access to formal financial services to expand from 26 percent in 2006 to over 75 percent currently. 1 similar improvements in financial inclusion have been witnessed in other countries in the region — recently reported numbers are mauritius at 88 percent, south africa at 83 percent, rwanda at 68 percent, tanzania at 57 percent, and nigeria at 48 percent, and democratic republic of congo at 36 percent. second, compared to similarly - situated countries, kenya has