, one of the principles guiding our cra modernization work is that any redesign of cra regulations should continue to encourage banks to seek opportunities in underserved areas, including rural communities. i understand that the hac has done considerable research and stakeholder engagement to shed light on the barriers to the effective use of cra in rural communities ; all of that work will benefit our reform efforts. the fed ’ s ongoing series of for example, see ann carpenter, douglas white, and mary hirt ( 2018 ), “ rental housing affordability in the southeast : data from the sixth district, ” community and economic development discussion paper 2 - 18 ( atlanta : federal reserve bank of atlanta, july ), https : / / www. frbatlanta. org / communitydevelopment / publications / discussion - papers / 2018 / 02 - rental - housing - affordability - in - the - southeast - 201807 - 19. aspx ; and andrew dumont ( 2018 ), “ rural affordable rental housing : quantifying need, reviewing recent federal support, and assessing the use of low income housing tax credits in rural areas, ” finance and economics discussion series 2018 - 077. ( washington : board of governors of the federal reserve system, november ), https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / econres / feds / files / 2018077pap. pdf. - 5roundtable discussions in communities across the country will also allow us to hear suggestions for improving cra from local stakeholders, including many people from rural communities. these perspectives will inform our deliberations on this critical regulation, and we will make a summary of our discussions available to the public. in closing, while the economy is strong overall, we recognize that some communities have yet to feel the full benefits of the ongoing expansion. we are conducting research, collaborating with communities, and assessing financial regulations so that our nation ’ s current prosperity will benefit small towns and cities alike. the work being done by tonight ’ s award recipients and by each of you in this room is critical to making progress toward that goal. thank you for being our partners in this work, and enjoy the conference.

is the best crop if the farmer can ’ t transport it to the market? and what good is the best engineered car if it can ’ t be shipped to the customer? an economist would put it like this. a functioning infrastructure – the safe supply of electricity, access to roads, railways or the sea – raises the return of private investment. 1 so investment in infrastructure can start a virtuous cycle : when adequate infrastructure raises income and productivity, it becomes easier to mobilise the financial resources for investment in general and infrastructure investment in particular. but unfortunately, the chain of causation can also go the other way round. barry eichengreen has pointed out that countries can find themselves in a low - level equilibrium trap in which the lack of infrastructure limits finance and the lack of finance limits infrastructure. 2 by the time this gasometer was built, germany – and other western countries – had managed to avoid this trap : partly because they developed strong institutions and an effective administration ; they protected private property rights as well as capital markets and banking systems ; moreover the rule of law prevailed. all these factors helped in mobilising financial resources to fund infrastructure projects. this shows that the conditions to mobilise investment can to a large extent be created by the individual countries themselves. this is why the “ compact with africa ” stresses the need to put in place a stable macroeconomic environment, reliable legal systems and appropriate regulatory and supervisory frameworks. these are the three building blocks of the “ compact with africa ” initiative. they go under the headlines ( i ) macroeconomic framework, ( ii ) business framework and ( iii ) financing framework. you will have the opportunity to discuss these three topics during the two breakout sessions this morning and this afternoon. but in the end, when it comes to improving macroeconomic stability and to establishing reliable 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches legal systems as well as sound regulatory frameworks, there is no one - size - fits - all solution. each country has to tailor these general orientations according to its own individual needs. this task cannot be outsourced to someone else. that is why it is called the compact with africa, not for africa. the guiding principle is that our african partner countries are in the driver ’ s seat. and they don ’ t have to begin from scratch. we know at the bundesbank from our technical central bank cooperation that the level of expertise is often quite impressive. in the past years, the bundesbank has