would like to announce the third series of initiatives which will be effective immediately. the first initiative will be to extend the short - selling framework to malaysian government investment issue ( mgii ) by both conventional and islamic banks. this will increase liquidity and boost trading activities for mgii in the secondary market as well as tighten the pricing gaps and yield differences between malaysian government securities ( mgs ) and mgii. islamic banks may execute the short - selling transactions based on bilateral binding promise ( “ muwa ` adah mulzimah ” ) concept ; the second initiative is to expand the eligible collateral for liquidity operations with bnm to include bankers acceptances ( bas ) and negotiable instruments of deposits ( nids ) issued by aaa - rated onshore licensed banks. banks will now be able to obtain liquidity under bnm ’ s standing facilities by pledging these money market instruments. the expansion of eligible collateral is expected to provide an impetus to the trading activities of nids and bas and improve pricing. this is in line with bnm ’ s expectations for interbank players to take on a greater role in intermediating and pricing of liquidity. the third initiative is the introduction of bank negara interbank bills ( bnibs ) in ringgit and foreign currency. this interbank instrument will be available to onshore banks to better manage their ringgit and foreign currency liquidity and interest rate exposures and hence the capacity to provide competitive pricing on fx for all tenors. i should highlight that these instruments are only available and tradable between the onshore banks and will not replace bank negara monetary notes ( bnmns ). bnm interbank bills will be recognised as a high - quality liquid asset ( hqla ) under basel iii liquidity coverage ratio. before i conclude my remarks, let me raise two more points that involve all of you here. first, an issue on competition for deposits. towards every end of the year, banks rush and compete for deposits in an effort to show a good loan - to - deposit ( ldr ) ratio. this is disruptive behaviour. in particular, corporates, through their short - term deposit shifting, pushes up rates and create significant distortions. this is damaging to all. borrowing costs will rise. all will be impacted. corporates will also suffer in the end, through higher longer term borrowing costs because of these unnecessary biddings. from another perspective, time and again, we have explained that banks

laggednature of monetary policy transmission, and the need for targeting stability to effectively anchor long - term inflation expectations. to this end, coordinating with the fiscal authorities in setting a target aims to ensure that monetary policy is aligned with the country ’ s overall economic policy direction. by the end of this year, the bank of thailand ’ s monetary policy committee, jointly with the minister of finance, will be required to set an annual target for monetary policy for 2009. more importantly, this understanding must also be shared with the public at large – that the only long - term role for monetary policy is in creating an environment of price stability which would help support sustainable economic growth. ladies and gentlemen, in raising the economy ’ s potential output, it requires that we pay attention to our capacity. i would like to raise two important areas of commitments that all economic participants together can help the economy build strong capacity. these are greater energy efficiency and advancement in education. on the commitment to improve energy efficiency, we must reduce our dependence on imported oil from the present net oil imports ratio to gdp of about 8 percent, which is the highest in asia. this can be done through investment to modernize new energy - efficient machinery and technology used for production. importantly, price and tax mechanisms should foster energy saving. as for the commitment to help upgrade education to increase labour productivity, reform in the education system should focus on raising the standard and quality of education for future generation of labor force. skill specialization must be shaped to complement for thailand ’ s competitiveness in the world market. indeed, better education would also improve financial literacy and access, which will, in turn, allow more efficient allocation of consumption and investment. in sum, no matter how fast the economy manages to grow, at the end it is merely numbers. the development makes a real difference only when we are committed to building strong fundamentals to support long - term growth to ensure that the people are really better off on a sustained basis. moreover, as we move toward an ageing society, fiscal policy is able to ensure a sound social safety net system to accommodate for an increase of elder population in the future. meanwhile, the monetary policy takes care of price and financial stability. ladies and gentlemen, after a rather heavy presentation, i would like to end my talk on a lighter note. i trust that during your years in thailand, you may have come across some fortuneteller stalls packed with worried - looking customers. in finding out what lies ahead, these customers