governor title date event venue : mr. tariq bajwa : remarks by the governor, state bank of pakistan : april 19, 2019 : 23rd zahid husain memorial lecture : sbp head office karachi remarks by the governor, state bank of pakistan 23rd zahid husain memorial lecture 19th april 2019 honorable chief guest justice ( r ) nasir aslam zahid, learned speaker dr. zhou xiaochuan, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen! 1. i feel honored to welcome you all to the 23rd zahid husain memorial lecture today, on “ lessons from the role of people ’ s bank of china in china ’ s economic rise ” by dr. zhou xiaochuan, former governor of the peoples bank of china. 2. the zahid hussain memorial lecture series is one of the most prestigious events organized by the state bank of pakistan every year, and serves a dual purpose : it symbolizes our humble effort to acknowledge the services page 1 of 7 rendered to the nation by mr. zahid husain – the first governor of the state bank. and second, the lectures offer an opportunity for intellectuals, academics and policymakers to come together and engage in healthy and constructive debates on contemporary economic issues and challenges. while we may be in variance with some of the viewpoints expressed by our eminent speakers, we nonetheless wholeheartedly welcome the opportunity to learn from their understanding and interpretation of complex economic interactions, and their efforts to deal with the identified issues. ladies and gentlemen! 3. but before i introduce our eminent speaker, please allow me to briefly recognize the services rendered to our country by mr. zahid husain. as we are all aware, this country faced incredible challenges immediately after independence. in the words of quaid - i - azam muhammad ali jinnah, we got a ‘ mutilated, truncated and moth - eaten ’ country. 1 pakistan ’ s chances of survival did not appear encouraging during those earlier years. it was during these testing times that mr. zahid husain stood out amongst the dedicated lieutenants of our founding father. 4. mr. zahid husain was among the principal architects of pakistan ’ s financial and planning system. his commitment to public service and nation - building, and his resolve and ability to overcome multiple, significant challenges faced by the new - born country, set him apart from “ truncated state, divided nation ” ( ch. 2, p. 40 ‐ 60 ) from “ the struggle

news conference berne, 14 december 2017 andrea m. maechler introductory remarks by andrea m. maechler i will begin my remarks with a review of the situation on the financial markets, before going on to discuss the progress made in reference interest rate reform. situation on the financial markets let me start with developments on the financial markets. the monetary policy pursued by the large central banks was once again the focus of attention for the financial markets in the second half of the year. given moderate inflation growth, financial market participants are expecting only a very gradual normalisation of monetary policy across the world. against this backdrop, government bond yields have remained persistently low. muted expectations regarding a move away from expansionary monetary policy, coupled with favourable economic data and good corporate results, have contributed to largely positive risk sentiment on the financial markets. this has been reflected, for instance, in a stock market rally, lower yield spreads on corporate bonds and reduced demand for safe - haven assets such as the swiss franc. in this positive market environment, volatility has remained low and volatility for the us equity and bond markets, calculated using option prices, has dropped to record lows ( cf. chart 1 ). despite positive economic data in europe, european stock indices have risen only moderately. the stoxx europe 600 has climbed some 3 % since mid - year. one reason for the modest stock market performance in europe is the strengthening of the euro, which impaired corporate earnings growth somewhat. by contrast, us companies recorded a strong increase in profits. furthermore, the prospect of lower corporate tax rates raised expectations of higher profits in the future. against this background, us stock indices reached record highs. the s & p 500 has risen by about 10 % since mid - year. swiss companies have benefited from stronger demand from europe and the weaker swiss franc. the swiss stock market ( smi ) also made substantial gains, up some 5 % ( cf. chart 2 ). page 1 / 5 berne, 14 december 2017 andrea m. maechler news conference the low yields on ten - year government bonds from advanced economies have remained virtually unchanged since mid - year. in the us too, although key rate normalisation is underway and the federal reserve has initiated balance sheet reduction, longer - term yields have risen only marginally until now. on the foreign exchange market, the us dollar initially continued on the downward path it had been following since the beginning of the year. the dollar then strengthened again somewhat