been given the instruments and independence necessary to fulfil that objective. this framework is important to understand our recent monetary policy decisions, in two ways. first, we have lowered interest rates with the sole purpose of ensuring medium - term price stability for the euro area. we understand this decision has implications on different groups. this is however a consequence, not an aim of a monetary policy focused on price stability. and it is not specific to the euro area. if we were now to start basing our decisions on factors that were not related to price stability, we would jeopardise our mandate. second, we have a clear and verifiable definition of price stability that we communicated to the public – that is, euro area inflation at below but close to 2 % over the medium - term. and average euro area inflation has been almost exactly equal to 2 % since 1999. this has allowed citizens to develop well - anchored expectations of future inflation, and that in turn keeps inflation under control. indeed, the strong anchoring of inflation expectations has been the needle of the compass for the euro area as it has navigated the storms of the recent crisis. but for any central bank, the strategy to ensure price stability needs to be symmetric. in other words, inflation should be neither too high nor too low. if we were to react only to high inflation, and ignore low inflation, citizens ’ expectations would change – and we would risk losing the credibility we have established since 1999. as a result, doubts would be cast over our commitment to fight upwards risks to price stability – and this could lead to more volatile inflation in the future. this is a risk that we cannot afford to take. to summarise the current stance of our monetary policy : we are ensuring euro area inflation at below but close to 2 % over the medium - term using the instruments conferred on us. this is our responsibility in the treaty ; it is what the people of europe expect from us ; and it is our best contribution to economic policy for the euro area. bis central bankers ’ speeches where europe needs to be reinforced yet we know that the central bank does not operate in a vacuum. the ability of the central bank to deliver price stability ultimately depends on other policies being oriented towards stability as well. without this, the benefits of the single market and the single currency are put at risk – we have seen this clearly demonstrated in last few years. the task facing europe today is therefore to secure what we have achieved so far

as they battle the scourge of climate change and meeting foundational development needs. early green shots can be seen in innovative financing mechanisms that have been developed in availing clean solar energy to rural households in kenya, uganda and tanzania ( m - kopa ) and government mobilizing micro - amounts to fund development in kenya ( m - akiba ). african banks are also committing to global sustainable finance initiatives. but much more is required to scale up sustainable financing in africa. since 2017, i have been the patron of the green bonds programme kenya, a public - private partnership whose key remit is to develop a transparent, accountable and verifiable green bond market. in 2019, we launched the regulatory framework for kenya ’ s bond market and in september issued the first green bond of usd 45 million. this joins other issues in africa of under usd. 2 billion out of an estimated global green bond issuance of usd. 167. 3 billion. how then do we scale up sustainable finance across africa? i am delighted to note that the un hosted an africa day on october 10, 2019 during the annual general meeting of the international network of financial centres for sustainability ( fc4s ) in geneva, switzerland. the fc4s network hosted by the un is a partnership of global financial centres that seeks to promote the expansion of sustainable finance. this is achieved through sharing of experiences, research and technical support. so far, four leading african financial centres, cairo, casablanca, lagos and nairobi have joined the network. a regional programme will be launched in geneva, through which african centres can leverage on global knowledge to scale up sustainable finance in their respective jurisdictions. though this is a welcome move, africa must customize its sustainable finance vision to fit its own local circumstances. let us leverage on the fc4s, be guided by the paris climate agreement, but we should think ‘ global while acting local. ’ the time for africa to act is now, the effects of climate change continue to be harsher as a burgeoning youth population seeks opportunities to prosper. african economies need to be inclusive and resilient. the green shots are evident but we need to water them to grow into the tree that shades the continent. drawing from a japanese fable, the best time to plant a tree that matures in 400 years is today, the next best time is tomorrow. the writer is the governor of the central bank of kenya