low commodity prices continued to weigh down on economic performance in commodity exporting countries. international oil prices, however, recovered during 2016, partly in response to the agreement by major producers to reduce production ; therefore, potentially generating upward pressure on inflation. following a generalised decrease in the previous two years, global food prices also increased in 2016. due to these factors, global inflation increased slightly from 2. 8 percent in 2015 to 2. 9 percent in 2016, but much lower than the forecast of 3. 4 percent at the beginning of the year. as regards botswana ’ s trading partner countries, inflation remained low in the special drawing rights ( sdr ) countries ( comprising the united states of america, euro zone, china, japan and the united kingdom ). average inflation for these countries increased from 0. 7 percent to 1. 7 percent in the same period. in contrast, inflation in south africa breached the upper end of the target range, peaking at 6. 8 percent, mainly because of weakness of the south african rand and food price pressures. overall, average inflation for the trading partner countries increased from 2. 8 percent to 4. 2 percent during 2016. domestic inflation in botswana, inflation was low and stable, and fluctuated around the lower end of the desired objective range of 3 percent, hence broadly consistent with projections for the year. inflation reached a record low of 2. 6 percent in august 2016. the low rate of annual price increase was generalised across most categories of goods and services. however, food price inflation increased from 0. 7 percent in 2015 to 3. 9 percent in 2016. also, the reduction of 3. 3 percent in fuel prices in 2016 was small compared to a 15. 7 percent decrease in the prior year. in addition to benign external price developments, modest inflation in botswana was also indicative of subdued domestic demand, against the background of sluggish economic activity and restrained growth in personal incomes. among the influences on domestic demand are growth in government expenditure, wages and credit. taking these three elements in turn, government expenditure increased by 9. 7 percent in 2016, virtually the same rate of expansion as in the previous year. it should be recognised, in this respect, that the short - term impact of government spending on domestic demand is moderated to the extent that a significant component involves infrastructure and capacity development. in the context of botswana, this type of spending tends to be import intensive and, also, the economic benefits of such public investments are derived in the medium

just under two years the ngfs has grown significantly. from the original 8 founding members, today, the ngfs brings together 46 central banks and supervisors and 9 observers, representing five continents, representing half of global greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for supervising three quarters of the global systemically important banks and two thirds of systematically important insurers. and only last month, during climate week, new york ’ s department of financial services became the first u. s state banking regulator to join the network. so we have a collective leverage that is incredibly powerful. also the imf joined as an observer. the world bank, the bis, the basle committee, the oecd and others had already joined before. this year, the ngfs reached another milestone : a report with six recommendations to inspire central banks and supervisors to take the necessary measures to foster a greener financial system. as said, climate - related risks translate into financial risks via the physical and the transition channels. this is not only true for climate - related risks. it also holds for broader environmental and social challenges. water scarcity is a source of financial risk. diminishing biodiversity is a source of financial risk. human rights controversies are a source of financial risk. we need to think ‘ beyond climate ’. financial institutions need to think ‘ beyond climate ’. we as a world, we as central banks and supervisors, but also financial institutions, cannot afford the luxury of worrying about climate related risks this decade, and postpone worrying about and mitigating biodiversity - related risks the decade thereafter. and the same holds true for water scarcity. resource scarcity. human rights. we need to look at these world - wide problems, and the financial risks they cause, in a holistic manner. closing remarks ladies and gentlemen, i ’ ve already kept you long enough. drinks and dinner are waiting. you should start enjoying the wonderful offerings of this age - old hotel beyond just sitting here and listening to me orating about black and green money. i have addressed two topics in my speech : anti - money laundering and sustainability. these two topics share a clear international dimension. fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and enhancing sustainability, can only be properly achieved if we work closely together internationally, and at all levels. but in my opinion there is an even more striking similarity between the two topics. they are both instrumental in abiding by the key theme of this conference, that is : building a positive future. in