manage expectations and avoid fine - tuning decisions is of course a challenging line of investigation. i can only encourage this distinguished audience to recognize and accept the challenge. 6. concluding remarks present - day dynamic general equilibrium analysis is extremely stylised and, in many respect, still in its infancy. this being said, i consider that this analysis can have important messages for “ real - life ” policymakers. i tried to underscore in my intervention today the central importance of the price stability objective in the design of monetary policy, a result that the optimising analysis presented at this conference underpins and reinforces. i emphasised in particular the role of credible commitment and the efficient management of private expectations in the conduct of monetary policy. a successful monetary policy regime should build and preserve a high level of credibility. solidly anchored long - term inflation expectations contribute to macroeconomic stability and smooth conduct of monetary policy. the excellent track record of modern central banking in this respect should not lead to complacency. we still know too little about the way expectations determine macroeconomic outcomes, and there are wide research avenues which i am convinced you will staunchly continue to explore. while in a learning mode, we need to be vigilant. any temptation on the side of central banks to relax their determination in responding to potentially inflationary developments would be a threat to their credibility and could undermine the progress made on the control of inflation over the past two decades. i thank you for your attention.

in 2013. this is a reflection of the positive outcomes of policy initiatives by the government and the central bank as well as the initiatives of the financial sector players and their innovations. there is scope for further deepening of the financial sector, and especially the banking industry, and as a result, this will lead to further financial inclusion. even with the industry ’ s assets looking impressive at the levels i highlighted earlier, they still remain below 50 percent of our gdp. economies that have achieved higher levels of development, accompanied by high levels of financial inclusion have a higher banking assets to gdp ratio, with some well over 100 percent. with the level of innovation and dynamism in our banking space, there is no reason why we cannot aspire to be like those economies and grow our assets with strong banks and a strong policy drive to financial inclusion for financial development. i see research being at the centre of such growth. as a researcher myself, i know that collaboration will remain core. i commend the kba for seeking collaboration with other institutions, among them the central bank, in its research efforts. i see that collaboration in this research conference manifested in the diversity of paper authorship. i look forward to seeing the conference papers reviewed and put in the public domain so that the intended purpose of promoting an idea - based engagement is realized as well as development based on a certainty policy path. with those remarks, i declare this conference officially open, and wish all the participants fruitful engagements over the next two days. thank you for your kind attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches