financing. singapore financial institutions have been partnering local authorities in chongqing to build capabilities in green finance through workshops and online seminars. second, we must ensure common understanding of what constitutes green or transition activities. in singapore, an industry taskforce is developing a taxonomy that encompass green and transition activities. we are keen to collaborate with partners in china to identify commonalities in our taxonomies to unlock more cross - border sustainable financing flows. third, we must enable corporates which want to improve their sustainability performance obtain cheaper financing in the form of sustainability - linked bonds and loans. 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches sustainability loans can provide discounts on the lending rate if predefined sustainability performance targets are met. mas ’ grant schemes can help to defray the costs that borrowers incur to certify the fulfilment of sustainability targets. fourth, we must explore innovative policy measures to facilitate qualified chinese enterprises to issue green bonds overseas. for example, corporates from chongqing or the broader western region could be allowed expedited approval for green bond issuances in singapore. this could be done within specified limits and perhaps something akin to a dedicated green foreign debt quota for chongqing. a growing number of chongqing and western region companies are tapping singapore to obtain green financing. just last month, chongqing three waters conservancy and power co. signed an mou with chongqing rural commercial bank to explore a potential rmb 1 billion green bond issuance in singapore. there are more such deals in the pipeline, and i urge chinese companies issuing green and sustainability bonds or taking green loans to seriously consider doing so in singapore. i look forward to our continued cooperation with chongqing. i am confident that our initiatives under the cci will help build a more resilient, digital and sustainable future for our two countries. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

representatives from different regions of the country – the various presidents – have input into fomc deliberations. at those eight meetings, the fomc decides on the level of monetary stimulus for the economy. i won ’ t get into too many details of what that term “ monetary stimulus ” means, although i ’ m more than happy to take questions about it later. for now, i ’ ll just make three high - level points. first, when the fomc changes the level of stimulus, our actions tend to push inflation – that is, the rate of growth of prices – and employment in the same direction. raising the level of stimulus puts upward pressure on both inflation and employment. lowering the level of stimulus puts downward pressure on both inflation and employment. second, the fomc ’ s actions only affect inflation and employment with a lag, usually thought to be about one - and - a - half to two years. finally, over the long run, monetary policy is the prime determinant of the overall rate of inflation in the economy, but many factors beyond monetary policy affect the long - run level of employment. what is the fomc seeking to achieve by varying the level of monetary stimulus? congress has charged the fomc with making monetary policy to promote price stability and to bis central bankers ’ speeches promote maximum employment. the fomc has interpreted the first goal, price stability, to mean keeping inflation close to 2 percent. the fomc ’ s job is to vary monetary stimulus over time to meet these mandated objectives. the remainder of my speech will take the form of a report to you about how the fomc is doing in terms of meeting these goals set for us by your elected representatives in congress. price stability i will start with price stability. again, operationally, the fomc has translated this into keeping the rate of increase of the price level – that is, the inflation rate – close to 2 percent. even more specifically, the fomc uses what ’ s called the personal consumption expenditure price index, or pce, to calculate inflation. this measure of inflation captures the rate of increase in all goods and services, including those related to food and energy. the great recession is dated as starting in december 2007. here ’ s a graph of how pce inflation has behaved since that date. the main take - away is that, since the beginning of the great recession, the pce inflation rate has averaged 1. 5