be a number of structural changes behind the increase in productivity, which are at least partly connected with globalisation. if one disregards the temporary increases in inflation caused by high prices for energy, for instance, one can observe a gradual decline in inflation over the past decade. in sweden cpi inflation has fallen from around 5 per cent in 1994 to approximately 2 per cent in 2003. even in a more long - term perspective, inflation shows a downward trend, which is illustrated in a figure showing inflation in oecd countries. other parts of the world have experienced a similar development. the imf ’ s previous chief economist ken rogoff has demonstrated in an article that global inflation has fallen from 30 per cent to 4 per cent between 1993 and 2002. which factors could lie behind this remarkable slowdown in the rate of price increase? i believe that it is mainly a combination of three factors : a change in monetary policy with independent central banks applying inflation - targeting, it investments enabling large - scale cost savings and globalisation that entails, among other things, increased competition from new low - wage countries and pressurises producer countries towards greater productivity. 1. independent central banks with inflation targets at the beginning of the 1990s, in the aftermath of the years of overheating and crisis, a process of reorientation of economic policy began in sweden : the tax system was reformed and combating inflation was given priority. the riksbank decided at the beginning of 1993 to introduce an inflation target, defined as 2 per cent with a tolerated deviation interval of plus / minus one percentage point, and fiscal policy was increasingly oriented towards budget consolidation. similar developments took place at around the same time in many other countries. the change in economic policy was particularly revolutionary in the former communist states in europe, in china and in developing countries that had previously been inspired by the planned economy, such as india, which contributed to these countries becoming increasingly integrated into the global economy. the fact that price stability has become an explicit target for monetary policy has thus played an important role in the slowdown in inflation over the past decade. it is only to be expected, given that inflation is a monetary phenomenon, which is ultimately determined by monetary policy and the confidence it inspires. independence for central banks, the convergence criteria for emu membership and a ban on financing budget deficits by printing more money are some examples of measures that have contributed to increasing confidence in the price stability target. in addition, improved communication and increased transparency have led

encik abu hassan alshari yahaya : anti - money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism welcoming remarks by mr encik abu hassan alshari yahaya, assistant governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the asean regional bank supervision workshop on “ anti - money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism ”, kuala lumpur, 3 march 2015. * * * welcome to malaysia. i hope you have had a pleasant journey travelling to kl and managed to have a good rest. i also hope that the facilities being offered here at our lanai kijang are adequate to meet your expectations. it is a great honour for bank negara malaysia to host and co - organise the asean regional bank supervision workshop on anti - money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. i would like to take this opportunity to thank the world bank for formulating the programme and organising this workshop and our utmost gratitude to the government of canada for the generous financial support that has made the hosting and organizing of this course possible. as a country that has just gone through its on - site mutual evaluation process, we have seen that the role of supervision is very important in the development of a country ’ s aml / cft regime. there is critical need for the integration between aml / cft, prudential and business conduct supervision as well as between those supervisors and the law enforcement authorities. these inter - linkages prove to us that collective effort is key in combating ml / tf effectively. the international standards require supervisors to appropriately supervise, monitor and regulate financial institutions for compliance with aml / cft requirements commensurate with their risks. as such, to effectively implement the above, a country ’ s aml / cft supervision has to be embedded in the broader framework of prudential and business conduct supervision. this is to leverage on and optimise the synergies, expertise and resources to ensure effectiveness of both overall supervision of financial institutions and specific aml / cft supervision. supervisors are required to ensure effective management of ml / tf risk and compliance with aml / cft requirements by the financial institutions by assessing institution ’ s policies, procedures and processes for identifying and managing ml / tf risk and in complying with regulatory requirements. this integration also ensure that supervisors are coherent and apply high standards in fulfilling their responsibilities for both aml / cft and prudential supervision. as for aml / cft