, agriculture and law and order. however, with revenue forecasted to be lower than expected, this would put pressure on the government to access these funds to maintain recurrent expenditure levels. this concern was raised at the recent png economic update forum series in port moresby. the majority of our people still live in their villages, relying on subsistence farming and fishing and using the cash economy whenever the need arises. they also benefit from their extended family ties through the “ wantok ” ( care for extended family ) system. fortunately, they are least affected by the workings of the government and its agencies, much less by the global financial crisis. our own challenges in the central bank in relation to poverty alleviation involve the issues of financial inclusions and financial literacy. how do we get the vast majority of our people outside our financial system to participate fully within the system and benefit from the economic growth? over the years, we have revitalized the savings and loan society movement, closing down dormant societies, improving on training for their staff and increasing supervision on their activities. we have also licensed two microfinance institutions to complement the activities of the commercial banks and other financial institutions. the savings and loan societies and microfinance companies are aimed at assisting low income earners and entrepreneurs to do businesses, improve their lifestyles and should assist in alleviating poverty. how can we ensure our people are financially literate so that they can make informed financial decisions as well as notice unscrupulous deals when they see one? financial education and literacy programmes by the government sector, private sector and non - government organizations are important. financial literacy programmes lead to financial inclusion which improves the lifestyles or economic conditions of those engaged in it and help reduce poverty. however, to work effectively, both these two activities would have to be undertaken together, that is, microfinance development together with financial literacy. the on - going financial global crisis shows the importance of dealing with these issues, even in the industrialized countries. the current global financial crisis is a concern. some say it is the worse economic crisis since the great depression of the 1930s. if so, it presents a challenge to all of us here today. to those of us involved in the economic management of the country, as well as the technocrats, the politicians, the business community and civil society. we all have a part to play in ensuring that any adverse impact of the crisis is eliminated or minimize, especially on the most vulnerable members of our

everyone is talking about financial inclusion at the international level. it is a major agenda of development right across the globe with financial illiteracy as a serious hindrance to positive development. as far as the bank is concerned, we have another reason to pursue financial inclusion. this is to address and improve the transmission process of our monetary policy to the real economy. this relates to the process where any change we make to monetary policy through a signalling interest rate or other means, its effects should translate down to the real economy, through business houses, consumers, institutions etc. one of the major reasons bis central bankers ’ speeches for the transmission not working is because of the lack of financial services, due to fewer financial intermediaries and products. it is important for png as a developing nation to have this transmission mechanism working right down to the rural communities to eradicate financial exclusion. png is a member of apec and financial inclusion & financial literacy is one of apec ’ s key priorities, as demonstrated by the launch of the apec financial inclusion initiative in 2010. at the 2012 apec finance ministerial meeting, finance ministers of the apec economies recognized financial literacy to be an essential skill for everyone in the 21st century and an important component of any economy ’ s efforts that will effectively support economic and financial stability, inclusive development to improve individual and families wellbeing. the bank of png is in the forefront of promoting the financial inclusion agenda and is committed to several international initiatives such as the maya declaration and the money pacific advisory group goals. the money pacific goals emphasises the importance of financial education where all central banks in the pacific, including png signed up to ensure all children receive financial education through the core curriculum by 2020. the bank also made a commitment under the maya declaration in malaysia in 2013 to achieve several goals by 2015, one of which is to increase financial services access to one ( 1 ) million more of the currently unbanked population in png, of which 50 % of them will be women. i am pleased to announce that png is reaching around ½ million clients as i speak. at this juncture, i would like to reiterate governor bakani ’ s comments of wmbl spearheading the goal of reaching the 500, 000 unbanked women in png before end 2015. we only have 16 months to be able to achieve that target and we are confident that wmbl will provide further initiatives and services to achieve this goal. 3.