training you. what can we do? nothing much! we can only do one thing and that is to continue to train new staff. leadership training is very essential. i commend the rotaract club for its immense contribution to training. making a difference making a difference is one of your rallying calls. it is a powerful one. but making a difference in what and to whom? i believe that you can make a difference on many levels. although we may not know it, we do make a difference to people ’ s lives irrespective of our position in society. we as parents make a difference to our children. we as managers and leaders in our organisation make a difference to the people that we work with. as national leaders we make a difference to the whole country. at these multiple levels of effectiveness the key to making a difference however must be at the personal level. we get that personal level right then we can influence people the right way. we get that wrong we are bound to fail. i always believe that personal victories must also precede interpersonal victories. link to communities the other theme that strikes me as very interesting is the link between corporate fiji and the communities. this is an important theme. several of your sessions today will cover this corporate responsibility. profitability is no longer the only driving force of corporates although it is still important. this larger responsibility to society has grown in global attention in recent years. why? in my view it has to do with sustainability. corporates now realise that we live in an interrelated world. no one is an island anymore. globalisation is here to stay. what one country or corporate does affects many other things in the country and the whole world. global warming is a classical example. one day if we are not careful we will all disappear under the waves. so whatever we do we now must ensure that we do them in a sustainable manner. polluting your backyard is not sustainable. dealing unfairly with your workers is not sustainable. ignoring the community is not good corporate sense. corporates are now linking more closely with the community than ever before. i commend rotaract ’ s for its community work. i am told that some proceeds of your attendance today will go towards buying computers for vishnu deo memorial primary school. this is certainly a win - win combination – where the youth are trained and the community benefits from the fees that you collect. actions not words i like your vision “ take the lead

damage on the human, social and economic fronts. there are currently over 43 million active cases worldwide and around 1. 2 million deaths across the globe. despite hitting our economy hard, i am pleased to highlight that fiji has had no covid community transmissions for almost 200 days now. furthermore, while some countries are reimposing lockdown measures in response to the second wave of the virus, here in fiji we are blessed and privileged to be able to gather for functions like this, attend soccer and rugby matches in person with other fans as well as meet for religious functions. let us not take this for granted and we appreciate the good work done by our agencies. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches economic updates the imf estimates the economic impact of the coronavirus to reach us $ 28 trillion by 2025. unemployment has spiked in all countries and the global economy is projected to contract by 4. 4 percent in 2020, with 90 million people falling back into extreme poverty. this is a crisis like no other and the outturn is expected to be worse than the global depression of the 1930s. unfortunately, the fijian economy has not been spared from the wrath of the pandemic. with international borders closed, tourism, the mainstay of our economy, has come to a standstill. given that tourism cuts across many sectors and accounts for 30 – 40 percent of fiji ’ s gross domestic product, the fijian economy is forecast to contract by 21. 7 percent this year – our largest contraction since the 6. 3 percent decline in 1987. we are currently reviewing our economic forecasts and it is encouraging to note some improvements in domestic economic activity since the onset of covid - related restrictions in the first quarter. mobility and consumption indicators have picked up in line with the easing of the restrictions domestically while cane, timber and some manufacturing outputs have recovered somewhat from their lows recorded in the first half of the year. in this regard, i am pleased to highlight that positive developments in the partial indicators that we monitor point towards a softening of the contraction that was projected earlier. our official forecast will be released later next month. monetary policy objectives despite losing close to a billion dollars in tourism related foreign exchange income over the past 6 months, our foreign reserves remain at comfortable levels of just above $ 2. 2 billion and sufficient to cover 8. 2 months of retained imports. rumours of a devaluation were rife on social media sometime back, and there are some who continue to speculate