that sound economic policy was pursued in serbia and that the resilience of the domestic economy to potential risks was strengthened. by consistent implementation of monetary policy and full coordination with fiscal policy, the national bank of serbia significantly contributed to the country ’ s solid economic performance, which strengthened the basis for sustainable growth. we are therefore able to talk today about the lowest risk premium, which in july, for the first time since records are available for our country, fell below 60 bp. risk premium indicator − embi ( daily data, in bp ) embi global composite embi europe serbia source : jp morgan. thank you for your attention. please allow me now to pass the floor to general manager of the financial stability department mr darko kovacevic.

management measures in response to over - investment in certain sectors of the economy with the result that the unstable and unhealthy factors in the economy have been curbed. based on updated statistics, the growth of money supply slowed in august, with all intermediate targets for monetary policy lower than expected at the beginning of the year. the consumer price index rose by 5. 3 percent, due mainly to rising food prices compared with the same period last year. inflation, which excludes food and oil prices, remains relatively low, demonstrating that china ’ s macroeconomic management measures have played an important role in lowering credit and investment growth, leading to brighter prospects for a soft landing. the chinese government is firmly resolved to curb over - investment in certain economic sectors and to promote economic and financial reform. we will pay close attention to macroeconomic developments and remain prepared to take the necessary steps to consolidate the gains in macroeconomic management. in 2004, we have taken important steps to reform state - owned commercial banks and capital markets. learning from international practice, we have begun to restructure two state - owned commercial banks as share holding companies, which are scheduled to be listed in 2005. furthermore, reforms are also underway at banks and non - bank financial institutions - including the two other state - owned commercial banks, joint stock commercial banks, urban commercial banks, and rural credit cooperatives. we have also introduced the qualified foreign institutional investors scheme, allowing the investment of foreign capital in china ’ s security markets. through these reforms, we will build a strong financial system able to support the sustained, stable, and rapid growth of china ’ s economy. the recovery of the hong kong sar economy continues. for the first half of 2004, real gdp registered robust growth of 9. 5 percent. growth was broadly based, supported by further implementation of the closer economic partnership arrangement between hong kong sar and the mainland and gradual expansion of travel deregulation to more mainland cities and provinces. consumer confidence continued to recover, putting an end to almost six years of deflation. driven by service exports, real gdp in macao sar grew by 36. 0 percent for the first half of 2004, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4. 9 percent. the further strengthening of economic cooperation between the mainland and macao sar contributed not only to the continued growth momentum in the tourism industry and strengthening the role of its trade platform, but also to the development of the financial sector and new industries. we believe that the global recovery combined with the stable