that they will show that the canadian economy has expanded by close to 4 % since the fourth quarter of 1998. and employment has been growing strongly, taking the national unemployment rate down to an 18 - year low of just under 7 %. nova scotia ’ s economy has also done well this past year, both in terms of output and employment growth. indeed, when it comes to job creation through the year ( that is, december 1999 over december 1998 ), nova scotia has done better than the national average. a number of factors have supported the economic upswing in canada. on the external side, we have greatly benefited from an amazingly strong us market. a pickup in growth in europe and a recovery in some of the asian economies that were most hurt by the financial crisis have also helped. another important factor has been the turnaround in primary commodity prices, in response to firmer world economic activity. stronger domestic spending in canada, reflecting growing confidence, rising employment, and relatively low interest rates, has also been instrumental in boosting the rate of economic expansion. when i talked about our economic prospects in charlottetown in early november and again when our monetary policy report was released shortly after that, i indicated that the bank expected a positive picture for 2000. this meant continued healthy growth and an underlying rate of inflation ( as measured by the consumer price index, excluding food, energy, and the effects of changes in indirect taxes ) near the middle of our 1 % to 3 % target range. information received since then suggests that in the future there may be more upward momentum of demand in canada than we thought because of greater strength both in the world economy, especially in the united states, and in global commodity markets. so we may be looking at a somewhat faster pace of economic expansion for this year - in the upper half of the 2¾ % to 3¾ % range that we suggested in the autumn. i also pointed out last november that there were inflation risks in the outlook for canada that the bank was sensitive to, and should be ready to face, given that monetary policy must be forward - looking. i highlighted two risks in particular : a potential buildup of inflation pressures in the united states that could spill over to canada ; and the possibility of a much stronger momentum of demand in this country from both domestic and foreign sources. economic developments since november continue to point to these risks. and they underline the need for the bank to be vigilant and ready to act in a timely fashion to safeguard canada ’

mr hartmann outlines the bundesbank ’ s preparation for the year 2000 address by mr wendelin hartmann, a member of the directorate of the deutsche bundesbank and chairman of the committee on payment and settlement systems, at a press conference in frankfurt / main on 18 june 1999. ladies and gentlemen, last weekend, a global year 2000 test of the major international payment and settlement systems took place. on the initiative of the new york clearing house ( nych ) nearly 500 internationally operating credit institutions from 20 countries participated in the test, for which they had 34 systems in america, europe, asia and australia at their disposal ( more detailed information is contained in the internet excerpts from nych which you have before you ). the year 2000 readiness of payment systems is of paramount importance to the financial sector. every day, these global financial routes handle payments amounting to more than us $ 1, 500 billion for foreign exchange dealings alone. disruptions to these systems impede the orderly flow of financial capital and may spread to all areas of the economy — both nationally and internationally — in the form of chain reactions. an orderly monetary policy and supply of money to the economy may thus be crucially impaired. for the central banks, it is therefore a major concern that payment systems are able to operate properly in the year 2000. for the organisation of this worldwide test, the bundesbank assumed a coordinating role for the german banking industry with the new york clearing house. it initially provided for an exchange of information with the credit institutions taking part in the test. nationally, the bundesbank, as the system operator, made both of its major large - value payment systems for the german and european market “ electronic access frankfurt ” ( eaf ) and “ electronic counter ” ( els ) available for the test. for an eu - wide settlement, we also incorporated the national target component into the test. the test took place under year 2000 conditions. the simulation was of the exchange of payments for the first two business days following the changeover to the year 2000, i. e. january 3 and 4, 2000. thirty - six credit institutions from all areas of the german banking industry, the private, public and cooperative sectors, used this opportunity to demonstrate their year 2000 readiness in a test under realistic conditions. the institutions : • submitted payments to the electronic counter, settled payments through electronic access in frankfurt, • executed payments via target to belgium, france, italy and the united kingdom and received payments from those