speech by : loi m bakani cmg, governor, bank of png at the uncdf 50th anniversary 19 january 2017 ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to address you all at this momentous occasion marking uncdf ’ s 50th anniversary. the bank of papua new guinea has had a close relationship with uncdf through the pacific financial inclusion programme ( pfip ) since its inception in 2008. i would like to share with you some of pfip ’ s highlights over the past 9 years. on a regional level, pfip has been instrumental in supporting the role of the central banks in driving the financial inclusion agenda, and actively contributes to the pacific islands regional initiative, a knowledge - sharing platform for the central banks in the pacific region. by the end of september 2016, pfip had reached an impressive cumulative total of over 1. 1 million clients across the pacific, already surpassing the programme ’ s 2019 goal of 1 million clients. these clients are now connected with financial service providers through a variety of financial services including bank accounts, mobile money, micro insurance, microfinance and more. closer to home for us, in papua new guinea alone, pfip partnerships have led to over 400, 000 clients receiving some form of financial service. in papua new guinea, pfip has been supporting the bank of png and the centre for excellence in financial inclusion through support for development and implementation of the country ’ s national financial inclusion strategic plans, the second of which ( spanning from 2016 - 2020 ), you may be aware, was launched recently in december 2016. this new plan has the ambitious target of reaching 2 million more unbanked lowincome papua new guineans, 50 % of whom are women, by 2020. bima is one example showing the tremendous need and potential for financial service in papua new guinea. a recent entrant into the insurance market, bima provides convenient, affordable life and hospitalization insurance cover via a mobile platform to nearly 400, 000 often low - income, financially underserved papua new guineans, the majority are receiving the economic safety net of insurance cover for the first time. pfip ’ s investment grant helped bima expand outreach in the highlands region, reducing delivery costs and improving customer service through and expanded agent network. pfip is currently working with the with department of education, provincial government and bank of png to develop a pilot for financial education integration into technical and vocational

– the significant stock of acquired assets and reinvestments of the maturing principal payments – can have implications for market functioning and price formation. while the short - term economic impact of the crisis is substantial and requires ample monetary policy support, the longer - term outlook is much less certain. it depends in particular on the extent to which the effects of the crisis exert prolonged pressure on supply and demand conditions, and on the strength and speed of fiscal and structural policy responses. fragmenting world trade is likely to redirect the focus of supply chains from short - term efficiency to increased resilience. this will lead to a shortening of supply chains and a reshoring of production. at the same time, a surge in corporate indebtedness could make firms riskier and weigh on their capacity for investment. while these combined effects could act as a brake on productivity growth, they can be effectively offset if firms and policymakers use this crisis to modernise our economies. this includes promoting the digital transformation and refocusing supply chains to fully exploit the allocative efficiency offered by the single market. such reform efforts will be crucial to smooth the sectoral reallocation which could result from the damage that even mild distancing measures inflict on labour - intensive service sectors. while a countercyclical fiscal push can help sustain aggregate demand in the transition, fiscal space 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches may not be available in the countries most affected by the crisis. policymakers should therefore use the current window of opportunity and create levers at the european level to reduce the risk of individual countries emerging from the crisis excessively scarred. the european commission ’ s proposal for a major recovery plan, including the largest joint issuance in euro to date, is seen as a major step towards increasing the resilience of our union. if decision - makers can ensure that all countries emerge from the crisis stronger, with more modern and dynamic economies, the recovery will be stronger and more sustainable. this would reduce the burden on monetary policy and the need for further easing of the policy stance. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches