that the previous mitigants and supporting measures taken by central banks, including the central bank of kuwait, are were to survive coronavirus induced health / economic crisis, and had been unwound once they were no longer needed. the challenges and risks seen today differ from those we experienced during the past two years, and require attention, monitoring of their impacts on our economy and banking and financial sectors, and applying the appropriate measures and policies to face them. among such risks is deceleration of the global economic growth. imf forecasts in july indicated a decline in growth to 3. 2 % in 2022 and 2. 9 % in 2023, driven by several shocks, most notably is deceleration of the american and chinese economies, russian - ukrainian conflict, the geopolitical risks in southeast asia, the elevating tensions between china and taiwan, continued supply and demand imbalance as a result of disruption of supply page 3 of 4 chains of many basic commodities ( mainly food and energy ), risks of the continuous rise in global commodity prices and decade - old high inflation rates, especially in usa and major european economies. to contain the prolonged and far - reaching rise in inflation rates, many central banks tightened their monetary policies, by withdrawing the stimulus packages they had taken to withstand the negative impacts of the pandemic, reduced asset purchase programs, and increased interest rates. such actions are expected to result in inevitable economic costs and we, however, hope that these would not adversely affect our economic sectors, banking and finance in particular. in conclusion, despite the upward global economic challenges at various indicators, especially the forecasts for growth of the global economy to slow, and the factors that still affect the performance of many global economies, the recent data of the arab banking sector for 2021 revealed positive results in terms of capitals, liquidity and profitability inducing to adopt a countercyclical policy by rebuilding capital and liquidity margins for the sector units to face any future challenges. ladies and gentlemen, once again, i would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to your excellencies, and hope that the outcomes of this meeting help achieve the desired goals in supporting financial and monetary stability and plans of development and prosperity for our countries. thank you 18 / 9 / 2022 page 4 of 4

many times over the cost of the handset as monthly voice and data subscription charges. they may also pay substantial sums for downloaded content such as music and video. as a result, many firms are now slowly adapting their business models. one option is to become “ platform businesses, ” making their physical products platforms for various services. the aim is to capture as much of what the users are prepared to pay over the life of the product. meanwhile, another option is to become the provider of one - of - a - kind inputs ( especially materials ), which cannot be easily replicated by other firms. successful firms in japan and elsewhere are now pursuing these strategies, which i noted in a book published several years ago. 8 one footnote here is the impact of recent breakthroughs in the energy sector regarding shale gas and tight oil production. while the impact is now most visible in the united states, there are many promising geological formations in the world where new exploitable gas and oil deposits might be discovered, including turkey. while they may or may not become game - changers as some commentators suggest, once discovered and developed, these new sources of energy could affect the global economy in two respects. they will definitely change the energy endowment of economies. however, more uncertain is the effect on energy prices and their impact on the increasing mismatches and polarization we have witnessed in the past decade. 3. 3. challenges for the aged society finally, what will be the effect of the two forces – demographics and ict – working together? i explained earlier that if the ubiquitous presence of ict becomes the new normal, there will be relentless pressure on corporate profits because prices of products will tend to fall and even approach zero, reflecting the very low marginal cost of production for ict - enabled products. at the same time, the replacement of moderately skilled workers by ict will lead to a polarization of the workforce, with heavy losses of relatively well - paid jobs in the labor market. that said, the impact of ict differs between aging societies and those with young and growing populations. nishimura, k. g. ( 2004 ), the japanese economy : inconspicuous structural transformation, tokyo : nihon keizai shinbun, pp. 24 – 34. bis central bankers ’ speeches in the case of ageing societies, ict may create some new business opportunities, because ict can help firms adapt to the demands of ageing consumers, who tend to be more heterogeneous than younger consumers. ict