banks have opened branches. 10. one of the more recent reforms is the licensing of credit reference bureaus. the credit information sharing mechanism is now fully operational and as a result we expect to subsequently see a reduction in costs as banks pass the resultant benefits to their customers. 11. as a researcher, i would like at some point in future when doing my economic analyses on the kenyan economy, to find a very significant “ obama effect ” on kenya ’ s growth and development. that “ obama effect ” together with a renewed political leadership able to undertake political and social reforms supported by a superior law – the constitution – will be noticed in our econometric studies in future. but this will only be realised if all of you in this room and elsewhere scale - up your investments in kenya. finally, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, i conclude by wishing you fruitful discussions. thank you.

rates ( 0. 7 % in 2011 ; projections : 0. 5 % in 2012 ; 2. 0 % in 2013 ). this turnaround would not have been possible without ireland ’ s biggest asset : a talented, well - educated workforce. this strength is maybe most clearly reflected in the fact that the export sector has continued to attract foreign investment in the midst of one of the worst crises to hit the world economy in the last century. structural reforms true, structural reforms are helping to restore competitiveness and flexibility, and ireland, allin - all, benefited from a much more flexible labour market than, for example, greece or spain. it is true that some of the structural reforms will take time to show full effect, but their capacity to improve the situation for ordinary citizens should not be underestimated. just to give you some examples : the market for legal and medical services is currently being deregulated and made more competitive. this is something that will lower prices for irish consumers, expand activity and increase employment. in the labour market, an important overhaul of employment contracts has been announced. this should lead to a more modern and flexible system to align wages to productivity in particular sectors or firms. this will improve prospects for domestic firms to hire staff. a long way to go … but we must remain honest with ourselves : even though considerable progress has been made, we still have a long way to go before the situation normalises. house prices have continued to fall. the domestic economy remains fragile. and there is still considerable work to do on fiscal and structural reform. this is of course very demanding for irish households who have already seen their disposable income and wealth decline a lot over recent years. it is thus important that also the relatively rich and wealthy carry a fair share of the adjustment burden. worst of all, perhaps, is the fact that a large portion of the population is currently out of work. this makes job creating structural reforms so important. the deep recession, high levels of public spending, a narrow tax base and the burden of supporting the financial sector have all have put stress on the fiscal position of the state. as a result, the fiscal deficit has surged. the government has therefore rightly embarked on a path of progressively cutting expenditures while taxes have had to be increased. but here there are no easy solutions either. whether inside or outside a monetary union, fiscal consolidation would be required, in the best interests of the country. put simply, a government cannot for long periods