zealand credit spreads remained relatively low in 2019, despite heightened global uncertainties. how banks respond to the final decisions of our capital review announced at the end of 2019 remains a key uncertainty, with both risks to the upside and downside. 17 on the currency front, as always, a key uncertainty will be whether the nzd plays its role as a shock absorber for the new zealand economy by responding to changes in economic fundamentals ; or whether it is driven by other factors. • uncertainty channel : brexit and us - china trade tensions were a persistent source of policy uncertainty through 2019. recent developments — including the uk election and us - china phase one trade deal — have provided financial markets with some relief. if there has been genuine pent up demand, the global economy could rebound strongly as firms catch up with capital spending. by contrast, while financial market sentiment has improved, to the extent that brexit and us - china trade policy uncertainties remain far from fully resolved, a sense of caution from businesses may continue for some time yet. in recent months, coronavirus is a human tragedy that has emerged that we will need to monitor, through all three channels. the sars virus in the 2000s provides some potential parallels, particularly through the effects on travel and confidence. 18 15 see the monetary policy handbook ( williams, et al., 2019 ). 16 see disavino ( 2020 ) for a discussion of the recent volatility in oil markets. 17 see capital review decisions ( 2019 ) and the reserve banks ’ s credit conditions survey. 18 see fan ( 2003 ) for the impact of sars - like viruses. looking to the longer term, there are a number of other challenges that we will need to consider. more work will need to be done on these issues to understand their impacts as they evolve. there are uncertainties, for example, about the future openness of international trade and labour markets. there has been a growing geopolitical trend globally towards protectionism and lower migration. rising global protectionism could reduce our export opportunities and lower migration into new zealand could dampen our growth, but might spur investments in domestic productivity. climate change is also likely to impact new zealand ’ s economy in a number of ways in the future. growing environmental regulation of the primary sector, for example, could result in an acceleration in the diversification of our export industries. an ageing population may also affect new zealand ’ s economy, impacting our savings and investment balance.

njuguna ndung ’ u : kenya ’ s ksh. 18. 5 billion infrastructure bond address by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, during the launch of the ksh 18. 5 billion infrastructure bond issue, nairobi, 28 january 2009. * 1. 0. * * background since 2001, the government pursued a deliberate policy action to restructure domestic debt, with a view to developing a vibrant bond market for generating long term finance. the success in lengthening the maturity profile of debt instrument has been phenomenon. several measures were instituted to facilitate development of a robust bond market ( a ) in 2003, the government lowered the cash ratio for commercial banks to release liquidity held with a view to reducing interest rates. ( b ) the government also streamlined its domestic borrowing cash plan in favour of bonds. as a result, the volume of treasury bonds rose from ksh. 80 billion in june 2001 to ksh. 318 billion by end december 2008. the proportion of long term debt to total domestic debt was reversed from 70 : 30 and now stands on average at 70 : 30. but what is needed now are bonds specific to projects of a developmental nature. infrastructure financing is one such target. the government organized the first ever infrastructure bond conference on october 27 - 28, 2008 at the kenya school of monetary studies. the ambition was to launch a series of infrastructural bonds to finance targeted projects and emulate other countries like : south africa, ghana, botswana, nigeria, malaysia, and singapore, among others have used capital markets to finance infrastructure projects. it is against this background that the government is launching this first infrastructure bond as a starting point. 2. 0. projects / sectors to be funded kenya aspires to be firmly interconnected through sophisticated network of roads, railways, ports, airports, and also provide water and sanitation facilities, and telecommunications as a key pillar of economic development in the vision 2030 blueprint. but the challenge is the huge capital outlay required, leading to the initiative we are starting today. this recognition of infrastructure provision has been recognized as an inhibition in competitive production due to heavy transaction costs. the targeted projects are well documented in the prospectus. we may in future allow a monitoring process for these projects to completion. 3. 0. the features of this infrastructure bond given the long term nature of the projects, the infrastructure bond will be of 12 years to maturity with face value of