certified auditor ’ s copy of the accounts along with the operations report of the bank for the seven months period ending 31 july 2016. • previously when the government ’ s financial year was the calendar year, the rbf ’ s annual report would be submitted to the minister by march 31 each year. last year was the first time that the audited accounts and operations report were presented for the period 1 january 2016 to 31 july 2016. both the accounts and report only cover the first seven months of the 2016 financial year as the last five months ( august to december 2015 ) are accounted for in the bank ’ s 2015 annual report. 3. key outcomes • the objective of central banks is not to maximise profit. its key role is to support economic growth by ensuring that there is price stability, external stability and financial system stability. i will shortly highlight the key outcomes in relation to these three kpis. financial performance • before i elaborate on the three stability objectives, please allow me to quickly highlight our financial performance for the seven month period ending 31 july 2016. • the rbf made a profit of $ 13. 9 million for the seven month period. however, the total amount transferred to government was $ 16. 9 million as it included $ 3. 0 million of the revaluation reserve account ( rra ). • this is in accordance with sections 8 ( 3 ) and 34 of the rbf act which states that one fifth of the rra is to be transferred to the government along with our profits. • this compares with a transfer of $ 32. 2 million to government for the twelve month period ended 31 december 2015. • it may not be appropriate to compare the bank ’ s financial performance in 2016 with 2015 as the periods covered are not the same i. e. seven months in 2016 against 12 months in 2015. • the total profit and revaluation reserve transferred to government in the past five years totalled $ 160. 0 million. price stability • all central banks have the same mandate to ensure that inflation is low and stable. this is no different even for small central banks like us. • as you are well aware, fiji was hit by tropical cyclone ( tc ) winston in february 2016. consequently, the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables and for some of us, the supply of our favourite national drink, kava, was affected. consequently, inflation rose to 5. 5 percent at the end of july 2016 from 1. 6 percent at the end of december 2015.

has demonstrated the major role of structural reforms in explaining cross - country disparities in economic performance 1. if all european countries summon up their strength and reinforce their push forward with structural reform, the improvement in economic activity presently observed in europe will be broadened and made sustainable in the long run. this is why the ecb has always encouraged the implementation of structural reform within the lisbon strategy. six years after the launch of the lisbon strategy in march 2000, the 2006 implementation reports of the euro area countries ’ national reform programmes for the period 2005 - 2008 confirm the awareness of governments to step up the pace of reform and the strong commitment by all countries to deliver effective measures. in march, the 2007 spring european council stressed the significant progress in implementing the renewed lisbon strategy for growth and jobs in most european countries. at the same time it also called on member states and eu institutions to reinforce their actions in particular to boost employment, strengthen the internal market, improve significantly competitiveness and create better framework conditions for research and innovation. against this background, i will first review the past economic growth performance of the euro area, focusing on some of the underlying factors of potential output growth, namely labour resource utilisation ( or labour supply ), hourly labour productivity and demographic trends, in particular in comparison to the us. then i will elaborate on the reforms which i see as particularly essential in making europe fit for the future. the economic performance of the euro area since the mid - 1990s. when comparing the euro area ’ s economic performance with that of the us, from the mid 1990 ’ s onward euro area output growth underperformed. since 1996, the annual growth rate for the euro area see the march 2007 ecb monthly bulletin article “ output growth differentials in the euro area : sources and implications ” for a discussion and further references. has averaged 2. 1 % per year 2 compared to 3. 3 % in the us. what are the fundamental causes of this unsatisfactory low trend growth in the euro area? the answers can be found by looking at the factors that determine potential or long - term economic growth, namely : the degree of labour utilisation, productivity growth and the demographic trends. 3 the euro area witnessed a considerable improvement in the employment situation 4. the euro area overall employment rate significantly increased from 58 % in 1996 to 64. 4 % in 2006 5, accompanied by a decline in the annual average unemployment rate from 10. 7 % to 7. 9 %. since the beginning