and improved products and levels of customer service. life insurance is competitive and demands innovation. quality service and products are very important in meeting the needs and varied choices of people and to help enhance their quality of life. product design becomes very specialized and requires a lot of innovation. indeed, the launch of this new “ double bula life ” plan is a testimony of the company ’ s continued effort to research and develop insurance plans that meet the needs of our local population. the new “ double bula life ” plan the reserve bank of fiji had formally endorsed the offering of this plan by lici back in may of this year, after a detailed submission by the company. our assessment considered the plan to be an investment alternative that our people, from those who have just started work, to those who have just received lump sum pension payments, can take up and reap the benefits of an assured return in the future. i will not mention again the features nor the benefits of this new plan, as we have all been provided with details of these during the feature presentation earlier this evening. i can only bis central bankers ’ speeches congratulate lici on yet another excellent product development initiative and thank the company for its continued commitment to our country through exceptional service and innovation. concluding remarks in closing, i would like to commend the management of lici for your innovation and foresight in developing and contributing to the insurance industry in fiji. i have no doubt that you will continue to play such a role as we move our country forward. thank you very much again for the invitation to be here this evening. vinaka vakalevu and dhanyavaad. bis central bankers ’ speeches

sada reddy : economic indicators and implications – where to from here? presentation by mr sada reddy, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, to the fiji institute of bankers ’ convention, suva, 23 october 2010. * * * his excellency the president of the republic of the fiji islands, ratu epeli nailatikau, the attorney - general & minister for justice, anti - corruption, public enterprise, industry, tourism & trade and communications, mr aiyaz sayed - khaiyum, the president of the fiji institute of bankers, mr norman wilson, distinguished guests, ladies & gentlemen good morning and thank you for inviting me to speak to you on this occasion of the inaugural convention of the fiji institute of bankers ( fib ). the fib, which will turn 20 years soon, plays a very important role in the training and development of bank professionals in fiji. i must congratulate the fib for this excellent initiative in bringing together professionals and partners from the financial sector as well as stakeholders from the public and private sectors towards a common interest, that is, to establish a vision and strategic direction for the banking sector towards 2015 – the theme of today ’ s convention. i have great pleasure this morning to speak on the topic “ economic indicators and implications – where to from here? ” first i will provide an overview of the current state of the economy and its future outlook, before i move on to outlining the future policy direction for our economy. as bankers, we can attest to the prominent role played by financial institutions in the development of any economy. in fiji, the contribution of the financial sector to total real growth or total value added product of the economy is around 9 percent. as a measure of its size, total assets of the financial sector in fiji is around 180 percent of the country ’ s overall gross domestic product ( gdp ). this ratio has increased from about 150 percent five years ago and shows the increasing importance of the financial sector in our economy. in addition, the financial sector employs around 8, 800 people which accounts for around 7 percent of paid employment in fiji. an efficient and sound financial sector is essential for economic growth. the intermediation process which facilitates the transfer of funds from savers to borrowers, contributes significantly to raising investment, generating income, creating employment opportunities and supporting our economy. as someone said, credit is the oxygen on which businesses grow and survive. therefore, as would be true in other developing