meade ’ s seminal report was a shock from which we have mercifully recovered, more than once! but i suspect it was always intended to be a wake - up call, not a requiem. in his summary section, he declared : “ continuous and self - sustaining improvement in production and in the real standards of living can be achieved in mauritius only if over the next five years or so there is a relentless effort to introduce all those economic reforms which are essential to set this process of economic growth to work. “ if there is a secret to the continual forward impulsion of the country it is set in the foundations of the state itself and the capacity of its leaders and the sturdy fortitude of people of our country to want something better for their country and for their children. we have now so much we owe to the aspirations of our parents and the strength of our family life! in one of the formative policy documents which set the scene for independence, sessional paper no. 9 of 1966 8, we find the following context for our work : “ ministers of finance have their ears to the political ground ; a central bank should concern itself with the economic facts of life and above all should be “ in ” and “ of ” the financial and business community. ” tellingly, this paper refers to the central bank as the “ government ’ s bank ” and the “ bankers ’ bank ”. that was a key formula for the times, defining the role of the new bank - to - be in providing advice to government and to business on domestic monetary and economic matters. parliamentary paper in mauritius. i am the sixth governor of the bank of mauritius. it is a great honour to follow the lead of those five men before me. the life of a governor in this part of the world for those who are statistically - oriented is about 8 years, but with a large deviation, from the shortest 2 years to the longest 14 years. sir john shaw rennie 9, governor of mauritius, at the inauguration of the bank, and addressing its governor, remarked that his wife had drawn his attention to a dictionary definition of governor : “ an automatic attachment to an engine for controlling the speed, usually by regulating the supply of working fluid. ” happily not a phrase appearing on my job description! the first governor mr aunauth beejadhur 10, having just opened the shop for business on 14 august 1967, responding to the immediate challenges on his desk, had this to say at the official opening three weeks

crisis of 2008. then too, we faced similar extreme siege conditions of the global financial system, and the challenge of responding immediately and decisively to the crisis within the boundaries of democratic processes. we managed that challenge. the g - 20 ’ s leadership and the all - out efforts mounted by the imf and other multilateral institutions to do what it takes to pull back the global economy from the brink of collapse and set it on a path of recovery were applauded across the world. 9. there are important differences between the 2008 crisis and today ’ s situation. i. in 2008, when the world got into a crisis, there was a lot of policy force. in the years before the crisis, the world enjoyed the so called “ great moderation ” with steady growth in advanced economies and accelerated growth in the emerging economies, and low inflation all around. so we could attack the crisis with the full fire power of monetary and fiscal stimulus. sadly, the policy space for stimulus is much less today. ii. in 2008, the world responded to the crisis in coordination. sure there were differences, but these differences were resolved, and governments and central banks acted firmly, decisively and where required creatively. a similar perception of coordination is lacking today. iii. in 2008, both advanced economies and emdcs were at the same phase of the business cycle. today, they are at different phases of the business cycle. iv. in 2008, the crisis originated in the financial sector and transmitted to the real sector, but the rescue was by the public sector. in 2011, it is the other way round. the crisis is originating in the public sector and hitting the financial sector, and undermining the confidence of the private sector. 10. let me now conclude. there is a great deal of anxiety around the world about the outcome of this weekend ’ s fund - bank annual meetings and the g - 20 meetings. there are strong expectations that we will converge on a plan of action that will reverse the crisis of confidence. we once again have to show the resolve that we did in 2008 to meet those expectations. bis central bankers ’ speeches