already indicated, this decision was taken after lengthy deliberations and a detailed analysis of the underlying economic conditions in the country by senior staff of the reserve bank. more in particular, the latest decision of the monetary policy committee took note of the following economic developments : • favourable global growth prospects with some signs of an acceleration of inflation in industrial countries and a concomitant rise in their interest rates. • south arican recovery in domestic economic activity that gathered momentum during the course of 1999. the growth from quarter to quarter in real gross domestic product increased from 2 % in the fourth quarter of 1998 to no less than 32 % in the fourth quarter of 1999. • with the increase in economic activity, gross domestic expenditure began to pick up and increased at a seasonally adjusted and annualised rate of 42 % in the fourth quarter of 1999. this high growth can be ascribed to a rise in consumption expenditure, an increase in the fixed investment of private organisations and a strong accumulation of inventories. • conditions in the labour market remained depressed with further job losses of about 80 000 being recorded in the first nine months of 1999. • the current account of the balance of payments showed a deficit of 2 % of gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 1999. this deficit did not present any problems to the domestic economy and was wiped out by a net inflow of capital of no less than r14 billion. moreover, the balance of payments is basically very healthy, which makes it difficult to understand why the external value of the rand recently came under some pressure. • clear signs of increased inflationary pressures have become apparent in the south african economy. this has been reflected in a rise in the year - on - year rate of the production price index from 5. 7 % in september 1999 to 8. 2 % in january 2000. this acceleration in inflation was mainly due to increases in the prices of petrol and diesel, transport equipment and more recently food products. the recent floods experienced in the country, a further increase in international oil prices and the more rapid rise in money supply growth could also cause rising inflation over the short term. • over the medium to longer term, inflation in south africa is expected to subside again because of the application of fiscal and monetary discipline, a projected low growth in nominal unit labour costs, international competition and the excess production capacity in the economy. all in all the economic conditions in south africa are at present much more favourable than at the beginning of the preceding year. with the further improvement

ardian fullani : how the financial crisis has impacted central bank cooperation and eu economic, financial and regulatory developments speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the high - level conference “ on international central bank cooperation before, during and after the crisis ”, hosted by the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 9 december 2013. * * * dear participants, it is an honor for me to participate in this important conference and i want to thank the organizers for inviting me. in my speech i will focus on how the recent financial crisis has changed the central bank work with respect to the adoption of macro - prudential policy and its relationship with monetary policy. then i will share some thoughts on the experience of see countries during the crisis, and highlight some of the challenges they face given the recent economic, financial and regulatory developments in the eu. the crisis we are going through, being so profound and lasting, will leave its mark on economics in general, and central banking in particular. up until the great recession, monetary policy was living in a world that we may call “ the inflation targeting era ”. in many ways inflation targeting made the central bank ’ s job relatively simple, as long as it followed the policy correctly. the central bank, seen by the public as an independent institution, had to credibly commit to an explicit inflation target, in order to anchor mid - term inflation expectations. self - fulfilling expectations from economic agents and price setters would, in turn, help deliver the objectives of monetary policy. economists believed that by stabilizing consumer prices, financial assets would also behave in a stable and predictable way. the crisis painfully reminds us that behavior in financial markets is not always rational and lack of confidence in the markets can spiral out of control, sending shockwaves throughout the economy. escalating asset prices and their sudden burst affected significantly the behavior and balance sheets of the economic agents and challenged the stability of the financial system. in this respect, the concept of financial stability was seen as a byproduct of monetary stability. micro - prudential supervision was focusing on the soundness of individual financial institutions, with the belief that this was sufficient to ensure aggregate stability of the financial system. again, the recent financial crisis made it clear that micro - prudential supervision was insufficient to detect and address buildup of risks in the entire financial system due to externalities, herd behaviors, common exposures and pro - cyclicality in financial