, the commission put forward plans to accelerate payments under the european social fund for an amount of eur 19 billion in 2009 - 2010 alone, an important part of which [ ( 35 % ) ] is destined for central and eastern european countries. together with the liquidity provisions extended by the ecb to a number of countries, the total amount of funds earmarked by the eu to its members and neighbours to tackle the crisis exceeds eur 70 billion. it is indeed quite natural for the eu to exercise its solidarity in these days. it is solidarity that makes us a community and a union, not just a market. but solidarity is not a panacea. it is no substitute for sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms. in fact, the crisis has highlighted once again the importance of a solid structural economic foundation for sustainable growth. in this respect, it is striking to see how different the impact of the global financial crisis has been across individual countries, both in terms of financial market responses and with respect to real economic activity. the fact that the impact of the global financial crisis has been considerably less pronounced in poland as compared to its regional peers, might have various reasons. the most important one, in my view, is that poland has built - up less of macroeconomic imbalances and that it has implemented a set of policies and reforms that have overall been appropriate in recent years. in contrast, some other countries had accumulated large domestic and external imbalances, and these made them vulnerable to changes in international investor sentiment. larger current account deficits imply a greater reliance on external finance and thus a larger sensitivity to a disruption in cross - border capital flows. sound macroeconomic policies are therefore not only prerequisites for a successful participation in the economic and monetary union, but they are also necessary for the catching - up process to operate smoothly. it is after the elimination of major macroeconomic imbalances and when sufficient convergence has been achieved, that countries can expect to reap the full benefits of euro area membership. the ecb ’ s response to the financial crises the experience of the past year and a half bears testimony that the euro has continued to be an anchor of stability in times of stress. let me explain to you why this is so. the financial turmoil crystallises two principal tenets behind our monetary policy strategy : swift and flexible action guided by a steady and unwavering compass. from the onset of the crisis in august 2007 we were determined to do what was needed

encik adnan zaylani mohamad zahid : a way forward for the malaysian renminbi market speech by mr encik adnan zaylani mohamad zahid, assistant governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the rmb conference, organized by bank of china " a way forward for the malaysian renminbi market ", kuala lumpur, 1 november 2016. * * * it is an honour to be here this morning to speak at the renminbi conference organised by bank of china. over the last seven years since the internationalisation of renminbi took off in earnest, we have seen the progress and evolution of the currency from its primary use in trade settlement to become a currency of choice for investment and financial instruments, reflecting china ’ s growing presence in global finance as well as various economic initiatives related to its ‘ one belt one road ’ vision. to this effect, it is important for malaysia, being a key partner for china in the asean region, to strengthen the renminbi connectivity not only to facilitate our bilateral trade but also to become a launch pad for china ’ s initiatives in this region. today also marks one month since the inclusion of the renminbi into the special drawing rights ( sdr ) currency basket, which is undoubtedly a watershed moment for renminbi given its relatively recent internationalisation over the last seven years. i have no doubt that with the inclusion, more central banks will be adding renminbi into its international reserves. early last year, renminbi was estimated to represent 1 % of the global foreign exchanges reserves, and the share will grow. recently, we have also started to see interests in sdr bonds, with the inaugural issuance by the world bank in china ’ s domestic bond market, followed by subsequent interests from commercial entities. having this seminar thus at this juncture is indeed very timely. uneven global growth with gravity shifting to asia, particularly china for the past couple of years, the global economy had softened, with a marked slowdown observed throughout both the developed and emerging economies. the international monetary fund ( imf ) recently revised their global growth forecast to 3. 1 % for 2016, from 3. 2 % previously, reflecting softer - than - expected growth in advanced economies and the impact of brexit. global trade continued to be subdued, with the world trade organization ( wto ) expecting only a 1. 7 % expansion in 2016, marking the slow