at the technical sessions would help policymakers immensely to reshape their policy focus appropriately. in conclusion, let me emphasize our deep commitment to your theme by referring to our own mission at the central bank. the vision of the central bank is that of being a credible and dynamic central bank contributing to the prosperity of sri lanka. as set out in our strategic plan, the term prosperity has a wider connotation : i. e., the enhancement of the quality of life of people through sustainable wealth creation and inclusion of all segments of the society in enjoying the benefits of development. the central bank expects to facilitate this process by ensuring price stability and financial system stability while providing prudential and pro - active policy recommendations, as the advisor to the government on economic affairs. we have, so far, taken a pro - active stance in the delivery of prosperity and we are encouraging the key stakeholders in our country also, to implement the necessary strategies towards such end. we see the sri lanka economic association as being a key partner in the delivery of prosperity in our country and we commend you for your commitment and dedication. we are confident that you, together with other stakeholders would overcome the various challenges and someday soon, we would all be in a position to truly state that we have ushered in development with equality. i wish your conference all success.

addresses the bank of thailand ( bot ) ’ s policy focus, going forward. first, on the challenges. on the external front, uncertainties surrounding the global recovery remain substantial. major advanced economies are still grappling with structural weaknesses in their economies. most prominent is the substantial debt - overhang. in the euro area, this is mainly in the form of sovereign debt. in the us, the problem lies primarily with private sector debt. while the us is more advanced in the de - leveraging process, the debt - overhang will be a drag on growth in both regions well into 2012. dealing with such deep - rooted problems require tough, unpopular, actions at the fundamental level. a critical challenge is in justifying these actions to an increasingly skeptical public. thus the implementation of the required policies is just as hard, if not harder, than coming up with the solution. the political risks involved in all this is a key source of uncertainty that we must be mindful of. while global financial markets in recent months appear to be coping better with this nagging uncertainty, we are definitely not out of the woods. and the risks are much compounded bis central bankers ’ speeches given the limited room for additional monetary and fiscal stimulus remaining in the advanced economies. looking closer to home, the rising contribution of asia to the global economy is reassuring. despite the slowdown in exports on the back of a softer global economy, domestic demand in many asian economies remains robust. the expanding role of china and asean ’ s commitment towards economic integration will offer vast economic opportunities for the region. however, as will be discussed later, taking advantage of such opportunities will neither be automatic nor easy. the key challenge for thailand is to make sure that we harness the opportunities and incentives generated by this process to achieve fundamental restructuring of our economy and raise our potential growth. on that note, let me turn to the domestic challenges. this year, thailand must stay focused on ensuring post - flood recovery and restoring confidence. the damage of the floods was severe. economic activity contracted by 9 percent year - on - year in the final quarter of last year and the economy barely grew over the year as a whole. however, the impact of a one - time shock of this kind will likely be temporary and there is no doubt that thailand will recover strongly. indeed, notwithstanding some slight delays associated with the need to import machinery and the processing of insurance payouts, the recovery process is well under way. we expect that growth will rebound to