bank of iceland has been provided with the same mechanisms as central banks in most industrialised countries for creating such an environment. the central bank takes this role seriously and will strive to fulfil the conditions laid down by the new legislation and in the joint declaration which it issued with the government on march 27. the global economic climate has been dramatically transformed in recent years and is still changing in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the usa on september 11. it is quite obvious that we in iceland do not carry much weight in global economic terms. however, the situation in our immediate environment, especially among our main trading partner countries, is crucial to us. at the moment we are having a somewhat stormy ride. in this new environment, the role of everyone involved in economic policy - making in iceland will be to act in a disciplined and responsible fashion. doing so will be the main way to contribute to economic growth and prosperity in iceland.

speeches published date : 19 july 2022 remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director, mas at the mas annual report 2021 / 2022 media conference on 19 july 2022 good morning and thank you for joining us in person for the release of the mas annual report. this year, i will focus my remarks on inflation. it is the key macroeconomic challenge facing the global economy, affecting countries ranging from the united states to sri lanka, as well as singapore. the imf ’ s latest projection for global inflation in 2022 is 7. 4 %. this would be the fastest rate of inflation in the last 25 years. inflation is a pervasive economic ill – it affects everyone. the lower - income groups are particularly vulnerable. inflation is uppermost in the minds of many singaporeans. i will cover four themes on inflation, both globally and in singapore. inflation is being driven by both supply and demand factors taming inflation will mean a slowdown in economic growth a multi - pronged approach to deal with inflation managing debt amid inflation and rising interest rates i will then briefly touch on three issues which mas will cover in depth in the coming weeks and months : developments in the crypto ecosystem singapore ’ s financial sector performance and strategies positioning the financial sector for sustainability before i close, i will briefly report mas ’ financial performance. let me begin with inflation. it is important to understand the nature of the inflation problem the world is dealing with. inflation driven by both supply and demand factors we are seeing a surge in inflation globally because a robust demand recovery postcovid has run into supply - side frictions and, more recently, war - related disruptions. even before russia attacked ukraine, inflation was beginning to rise. the global economy, in aggregate, had recovered its covid - induced losses by q1 of last year. inflation readings in the advanced economies began to run ahead of forecasts during h2 2021. the post - pandemic rebound in demand, on the back of substantial fiscal and monetary policy stimulus, was stronger than expected. the key source of inflation pressures now in most advanced economies is labour market tightness. there has been a marked increase in the demand for labour, against a decline in labour force participation that occurred during the pandemic and has not recovered fully. wage increases have exceeded productivity gains, fuelling price pressures. globally, economic growth is slowing but remains intact. rising inflation has no doubt dented business and consumer confidence, but not yet to a degree that