of 41 per cent relative to usd3. 6 billion registered in the corresponding period of 2022. fx interventions by the bank amounted to usd50 million from the beginning of the year up to now. this represented an important reduction compared to injections totalling usd489 million during the same period last year. you would recall that warning letters were issued to four banks and monetary fines were imposed on eight banks for speculation on the fx market. i am pleased to report that banks have taken corrective actions, as a result of which exchange rate movements are now more reflective of actual market conditions and are less volatile. in line with domestic economic fundamentals as well as international exchange rate movements, the exchange rate has been reflecting market forces and the fx market is now operating in a much more orderly manner. the gross official international reserves ( goir ) remain comfortable, providing adequate buffer against potential adverse external shocks. the goir stood at us $ 6. 4 billion as at end - may 2023, representing around 10 months of imports. financial stability i will now provide you key insights into the resilience of the banking and financial system. monetary policy has remained unwaveringly geared towards bringing down inflation to within the target range over the policy horizon. still, i must highlight that concurrently the trade - offs between monetary policy and financial stability are closely monitored and carefully managed. the hikes in interest rate have obviously raised debt servicing costs for both the household and the corporate sectors. however, no evident signs of financial distress have emerged so far in these sectors. 4 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches the macroprudential metrics for the household sector – such as debt service to income – are broadly comparable to pre - pandemic levels, suggesting that any financial strains are well borne by the sector. there is, of course, a segment of the household sector that is more vulnerable to rising interest rates and high inflation – in particular, those at the lower end of the income ladder. here, i would like to reiterate the importance of the targeted measures taken by some banks to support the household sector with preferential interest rates for housing loans. the banking sector remains sound and resilient, though risks to financial stability remain elevated. the degree of vulnerabilities in the banking system has receded in the first quarter of 2023, as demonstrated by the stress test exercise conducted during this year. the domestic macroeconomic and financial environment are not expected to induce significant increases in risk

policy response in these countries to the global financial crisis has relied excessively on monetary policy, without adequate support from fiscal and especially structural adjustment measures. in the absence of alternative sources of support for economic activity from either the demand or the supply sides, interest rates have been lower than we would have seen under a more balanced policy mix, thereby giving rise to stronger international spillovers. but beyond these actions at the national level, many possible options exist to enhance policy cooperation from a strictly international point of view. some of them can be implemented relatively easily. in other cases, however, a strong political will and an awareness of the self - interest deriving from international cooperation would be required. let me give you a few examples : • advanced economies need to be fully aware of the international repercussions of their monetary policy actions. failure to recognize the extent and magnitude of the associated spillovers certainly exacerbates the difficulties that the economies abroad, particularly emerging markets, may face. 7 this also complicates life for advanced economies, since spillovers can certainly have a boomerang effect. although some progress has been made in this regard, this is still far from satisfactory. advanced economies should regularly carry out deeper evaluations of the cross - border and boomerang repercussions of their policy choices, particularly as the tightening of global financial conditions resulting from the eventual exit from ultra - accommodative monetary policy stances may pose serious threats to emerging market economies and affect advanced economies themselves. • closely linked to the above, we need more research on monetary policy spillovers and spillbacks from different sources. it is widely agreed that our understanding of this issue is relatively modest. however, efforts to overcome this situation are still insufficient. 8 i am of the view that this is a task that should be undertaken by multiple parties, including international institutions, advanced economies, emes and academia. the input of many sources of research is particularly important given the for a review of the effects that unconventional monetary policies in the advanced economies had on emerging markets in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, see for instance ozatay, fatih ( 2016 ) : “ the policy response in emerging market economies in the g - 20 ”, chapter 8 of “ managing complexity : economic policy cooperation after the crisis ”, brookings institution press. see, for instance, chen, q., a. filardo, d. he and f. zhu, op. cit. ; international