alberto g musalem : us macroeconomic and regulatory developments and emerging market economies remarks by mr alberto g musalem, executive vice president of the integrated policy analysis group of the federal reserve bank of new york, at the international financial conference annual meeting, cartagena, colombia, 9 march 2015. * * * thank you for the invitation to speak here today. it has been a pleasure to attend this conference, and to have the opportunity to exchange views with many of you. my remarks today will focus on the potential effects of the u. s. outlook and policy for emerging market economies. i will make three main points. • the u. s. economy appears likely to make further progress toward the federal open market committee ’ s ( fomc ) objectives of maximum sustainable employment and price stability. this actual and prospective improvement underlies market expectations that the fomc will begin raising the federal funds rate sometime later this year. • emerging market economies ( emes ) have generally performed well during u. s. tightening cycles, especially when such policy shifts are supported by effective communication in the context of u. s. growth. • there has been notable progress in improving the safety and soundness of the international and u. s. financial systems, to better support financial stability and economic growth. before i turn to the specifics, let me remind you that what i say today reflects my own views, and not necessarily those of the federal reserve bank of new york or the federal reserve system. since the end of the great recession almost six years ago, u. s. growth has averaged a somewhat disappointing 2. 3 percent. but growth has picked up recently, and the latest blue chip forecast is for growth to average slightly below 3 percent over the next year. there are good reasons to think that a period of stronger growth can be sustained. • household balance sheets are in much improved condition, with total household liabilities well below their 2008 peak, and debt service burdens at the lowest share of disposable income in more than 30 years. moreover, consumers are benefitting from the positive wealth effect of higher house and equity prices. • labor market improvement has picked up pace, with payrolls gains over the last several months the strongest since the mid - 1990s. workers are finally beginning to see at least modest real wage gains. and the u. s. unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest level since mid - 2008. • the recent drop in oil prices is providing a significant boost to

njuguna ndung ’ u : working towards an east african monetary union remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the opening of the meetings of the economic affairs sub - committee of the monetary affairs committee mac, nairobi, 3 april 2012. * * * mf and igc officials present ; distinguished delegates from eac partner states central banks and eac secretariat ; ladies and gentlemen : the central bank of kenya is delighted and honoured to host you in this workshop aimed at reviewing the various studies under mac priority activities that will assist in understanding the policy terrain and the process of eamu protocol negotiation. the eac has a target of moving towards a monetary union and this meeting will improve and further consolidate our understanding of the eamu process and invigorate and guide our integration agenda. on behalf of the central bank of kenya, let me take this early opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the organization of this workshop and all the participants and resource persons. i wish you an enjoyable stay in nairobi. ladies and gentlemen ; the monetary affairs committee ( mac ) of the eac central bank governors is working on various fronts to provide a knowledge base for exchange rate and monetary policy frameworks and how the policy designs can be applied in eac. this will support the east african monetary union ( eamu ) protocol negotiation, currently underway. in order to fast track this process, governors met in june 2010 and identified and apportioned the various priority study areas that would ensure that the decisions taken on eamu are informed and policy proposals are consistent with the aspirations of eac. the central banks of eac identified three levels of this process : analytical and design work, which entails immediate activities to improve the understanding of the entire eamu process, especially the pre - conditions for eamu establishment and the institutional set up ; harmonization of operating frameworks, which entails undertaking all the activities that will result in the harmonization of eac partner states ’ operating frameworks, thereby setting the stage for enhanced convergence in not only policies, but also the required structures ; and, the above blocks will deliver the input to the policy regimes block, which entail the tools for negotiating the eamu protocol. this block is being dealt with by the high level task force ( hltf ). distinguished delegates : the output from the first two blocks is meant to provide the technical input required to inform the hltf, a body