fall in oil prices. like many of you, we have introduced several fiscal measures to cushion the impact of the increase in oil and food prices. but we basically cannot cushion their full impact given our balance of payments and debt position. we are relying on some demand management to help us reduce imports. demand is already responding but the fuel import bill is still quadrupled our historical level. inflation, at over 9 percent, is the highest in over twenty years. it presents considerable challenges to policy makers. how can you pump prime an ailing economy when the balance of payments are weak and inflation rising? fiji ’ s scenario fits snuggly into today ’ s agenda. mr. tanaka ’ s keynote address is about the challenges we face in the era of uncertainty. dr susan adams will discuss the trade off between inflation and growth. and dr filardo and dr oh will address the policy options that may be available for central banks. we keenly look forward to these discussions and i am sure that we will take back with us some of the lessons that will help us in our policy work. let me briefly share fiji ’ s experience in monetary management with you. in fiji, we have a political dimension to our economic scenario. under such a combination of factors, the prescriptive policy medicine may not work very well. we have therefore chosen to temporarily abandon our market based monetary strategy and opted for a rather direct approach. we have introduced a credit ceiling but allowed commercial banks to exceed this ceiling only for lending to priority sectors. this is working well for us. it has allowed us to suppress consumer lending and raise liquidity which has lowered interest rates. in addition, we have selectively used capital controls to protect our foreign reserves while the fixed exchange rate continues to anchor inflation. this combination has slowed down demand without shutting out investment, stabilised our foreign reserves and kept inflation at single digits. let me say something on the second theme of this meeting. we all know how important hr is to our business or any business for that matter. i am therefore pleased that you have combined this meeting with a directors of training seminar on hr as strategic business partner. we in fiji, again because of our small size, have a very small pool of skilled people. in addition, we loose a lot of our experience and knowledge abroad especially to australia and new zealand. while i know that this is a global trend, we are however at the bottom of the pecking order. we have nowhere to replen

have developed around these opposing views. i feel there has to be a balance. it is clear that money does play an important role. without it, you would not be able to attend school and we would not be able to host today ’ s events for you. at this stage, it is your parents or guardians that have the responsibility to earn money for you and your family ’ s needs. while it is their responsibility at this time to earn money, you also have the responsibility to use the money that they give you wisely. within a few years, you will finish secondary bis central bankers ’ speeches school and will either need to progress further through tertiary level education or find a job, or even start up your own small business. whichever path you choose for yourself, it is never too early to start setting your goals and planning for your future.. the importance of saving savings, or setting aside a portion of your earnings for some future goal in life is a further concept that you should know about. this is an important skill that you will need and it is important that you learn to do it now whilst still at school. i encourage you and your teachers to start small savings schemes amongst yourselves and friends to help you learn the habit of saving. there is a saying by brigham young which states that … “ a fool can earn money ; but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage. ” introducing the concept of the capital market another important concept that you should know about is the capital markets. when you need money, where do you go? as children, most of you would probably go to your parents. ( more than likely you would know which parent would give in to your request for a few dollars to go to the movies or just hang out at damodar city! ). as a boy i always knew which parent would accept my story, though it would have meant a few extra chores to do about the house. schools and communities that need money go to their members or the public to raise funds. people and businesses usually go to a bank to borrow when they need money. our parents and even your teachers may have taken loans to buy a house or a car. but for businesses there is an alternative place where they can go to raise funds and this place is called a capital market. capital markets are similar to the market where we go to buy food and vegetables, because this is where people gather to buy or sell things. however, instead of buying