, and lower duties. the fiji electricity authority has a renewable energy development program which aims to provide 90 percent of energy through renewable sources by 2011. currently, around 60 to 70 percent of fea ’ s annual electricity output is generated by renewable energy sources. the ongoing nadarivatu hydro project, when completed, should add 41. 7 mega watts of power to the national power grid and produce around 100 million units of electricity on a yearly basis. on its part, the rbf has recently introduced an import substitution facility to try to assist large scale commercial agricultural businesses to obtain credit at concessional rates of interest. the rbf has also offered a scholarship for chef training in malaysia which should encourage the use of local foods in preparation of hotel menus. this is targeted at reducing our import bill and improving our balance of payments position, as well as encouraging local value adding. i wish to repeat my message once again to the hotel industry. please do everything in your power to reduce your consumption of imports. this will go a long way in assisting our bop. i wish to congratulate those hotels which have taken the effort to start growing their own fruits and vegetables. this is very encouraging indeed. as a result of the trend of declining exports and rising imports, the country has been faced with a deteriorating trade deficit and an associated current account deficit which reached a new high recently. the current account deficit is estimated at around 9 percent of gdp in 2009. a 9 percent current account deficit is unsustainable. therefore, we have to do everything in our power to increase export earnings and reduce imports. tourism has picked up well following the global downturn. in my view, under the current circumstances, tourism holds the greatest potential to lift fiji ’ s growth rate. the tourism development plan has set a target of 1 million visitors by 2016. we should aim to raise visitor arrivals threefold in the next three years. the industry and the government should develop clear strategies to make this happen. it is very encouraging to see three new airlines have started operations to fiji since december 2009, with our own air pacific adding hong kong to its list of destinations. this has linked fiji to new markets and should boost future visitor arrivals. let me now touch briefly on government finances. fiji has experienced chronic budget deficits over the past two decades. the proportion of capital expenditure to total government expenditure has been low. on the other hand, operating expenditure has continued to balloon over the years. in 2009, the proportion of

daniel mminele : establishing a proper governance framework for central bank reserves management address by mr daniel mminele, deputy governor of the south african reserve bank, at the institutional investor, africa sovereign funds roundtable, cape town, 7 march 2013. * 1. * * introduction good morning ladies and gentlemen. thank you to institutional investor for inviting me to address this roundtable meeting, and for choosing to host it in cape town. i trust those of you visiting south africa or cape town for the first time will have an opportunity to see the exceptional beauty that this part our country offers. judging by the agenda, i have no doubt that the discussions will be rich, as the topics being covered are all pertinent, and should allow us to exchange views and gain valuable insights to inform the work in our respective institutions in strengthening sovereign funds management operations and their oversight. i have been asked to talk on the topic of governance for central bank reserves management. with the increase in reserves assets observed in recent years, there has come a higher level of scrutiny with regard to how these assets are managed, in particular heightened interest around proper governance structures. as public investment managers we should welcome this trend, because reserves are public assets, which should be seen to be managed prudently and carefully while achieving appropriate returns. as some of you may be aware, the south african reserve bank ( the bank ) has made significant progress in recent years in enhancing our governance framework. 2. evolution of reserves management in south africa before i talk about the governance aspects of foreign exchange reserves management, i would like to first provide a brief history of the build - up of reserves in south africa, and the evolution of reserves management activities. in 1998, south africa had gross reserves of just us $ 6 billion, but was running an oversold forward book and consequently had a negative net open foreign currency position ( nofp ) of us $ 25 billion. this huge forward dollar commitment left the country in a precariously dangerous and vulnerable external position and resulted in our currency being deemed a one - way downward bet. the bank and the national treasury embarked on a drive to reduce the nofp to zero, and to build up the reserves of the country, with the former being achieved in march 2003. subsequently, there was a rapid build - up of reserves over the years, made possible by a combination of purchasing the proceeds of government ’ s foreign bond issues ; taking advantage of large fdi related inflows ; and purchasing foreign exchange