in your professional interests to also ensure that you remain a “ fit and proper ” person for purposes of directorships, management appointments and general community recognition and acceptance. this applies equally to a managing director of a company as it does to an honorary treasurer of a church. this good reputation must come to you over time and you must work at it - you cannot buy an excellent reputation. you must earn it. at the bank of png, following the passing of several legislations ( cba 2000, bfia 2000, life insurance and superannuation acts ) our responsibility now covers the supervision of almost the whole financial system in the country. besides the commercial banks, finance companies, and savings and loan societies, we now oversee the life insurance companies, superannuation funds, and the micro credit schemes. this is in addition to our sole responsibility of managing monetary policy. these are responsibilities we take seriously because the impact of our decisions and actions or inactions on the economy and society as a whole are profound. we insist on the same standards we expect from those we supervise. i note here that the boards of other institutions have adopted good governance and accountability procedures and processes for their organisations. at this point, one may ask ; who then supervises the supervisor? this is an important question given all that i have talked about on good governance and our increased responsibilities. at the central bank, the recently passed legislations explicitly state that the governor is solely responsible for managing monetary policy and supervision of the financial system. we have in place a board of directors drawn from a cross - section of the community - comprising presentation from accountants, trade unions, churches, businesses, and prominent individuals. this board is very vigilant and their statutory role is to ensure that the governor performs his roles diligently and prudently in the conduct of monetary policy and supervision. performance can be gauged from the achievement of the objective of monetary policy, which is ‘ price stability ’, as well as the soundness of the financial system. the bank realises that its policies and activities cannot be done in isolation from those of other organisations. as mentioned in the speeches by the chairman of the nri board, archbishop sir brian barnes and the acting director of nri, dr. richard guy, nri is ideally placed to carry out detailed research and provide quality advice in areas of concern on public policies and developmental issues. in fact, the central bank did engage the nri in the recent past to conduct a study on the

public ’ s needs and requirements of our copper coins ( one and two toeas ). i would like to see greater cooperation between organisations and institutions that conduct research work. we at the central bank have a research programme and would like to cooperate with various institutions, including the nri, ina, the universities and various specialised research organisations in conducting and providing applied research work to ensure that policy decisions finally get translated into real benefits for our people. in conclusion, may i take this opportunity to thank the nri for running this informative course annually since 1989. its popularity is reflected in the over eighty ( 80 ) plus applications received annually, though the usual admissions are limited to twenty - five ( 25 ) participants. this year, only 18 of you are privilege to participate and graduate from the program. like many other organisations, we have encouraged our staff at the bank of png to attend this program to keep themselves abreast of wider economic and social issues facing our country. two of them are amongst the graduands here today. our staff had found this course beneficial to their understanding of the png economy and about government policies and given them a greater appreciation of their work in the central bank. may i once again thank the chairman of the nri council, archbishop sir brian barnes, the nri council, the acting director of the nri, dr. richard guy, professors and lecturers for your invitation and for your contributions to the institute. congratulations to all the graduands. thank you and god bless all.