. however, i am optimistic that the buoyant consumer demand will soon make it more and more attractive for some businesses to start thinking about expansion or diversification. i believe similar development is also being seen in varying degrees throughout south east asia. the rate of inflation was only 1. 6 % last year, allowing the central bank to conduct an accommodative monetary policy. the reduction of external debt has been steady. external debt is now only 60 % of gdp compared to 90 % at its peak. financial institution performance in thailand has also strengthened considerably. last year the banking system recorded an operating profit of 0. 68 % on assets, boosted by both improved interest income and fee - based income. the transfer of non performing loans to the government owned, thai asset management corporation, has reduced the npl ratio in the banking system to 11. 5 %. with less need for provisioning, the average bis ratio of the thai banks now stands at approximately 13 % at the end of march this year. last week the thai authority also finalized the measures to deal with losses from the financial sector intervention. the government will fiscalize the losses by issuing bonds to cover them in full. the servicing of the interest rates will be entirely from the government budget. the retirement of the principals will be borne by the central bank. but it will be paid out of the central bank's future yearly profits which would be earned mostly from the international reserves and would normally be paid over to the government in its yearly appropriation of the profits anyway. thus the scheme will not affect the bank of thailand's ability to formulate monetary policy in the future. the scheme also makes more clear the path of fiscal deficit in thailand. with fiscal consolidation beginning next year when the economy firmly recovers, the scheme sets a limit of fiscal burden at approximately 60 % of the gpd which is still quite a manageable limit. the environment is therefore becoming more optimistic, the business prospects are becoming bright, and one should now plan for growth. what then, ladies and gentlemen, are the issues that we should pay attention to when we plan for growth? preparing for rapid growth for emerging markets like ours, i think we have to address issues both at macro and micro levels. at the macro level, the authority has to ensure that there is adequate infrastructure to handle high volume of transactions safely and efficiently. the need here covers not only that of the point of sale hardware and communication technology. the problem is that these things become

kwesi bekoe amissah - arthur : review of the cash cycle in ghana speech by mr kwesi bekoe amissah - arthur, governor of the bank of ghana, at the launch of the public education campaign on the gh¢2 banknote, accra, 1 april 2010. * * * 1. good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the mass media. i welcome you to the launch of the educational campaign on the gh¢2 banknote. 2. you will recall that on february 25, 2010 the bank of ghana issued a press statement on the introduction in may this year of a gh¢2 banknote denomination. rationale for the introduction of the gh¢2 banknote 3. following the july 2007 currency re - denomination exercise, the bank of ghana commissioned a review of the cash cycle to determine the effectiveness of the currency reform and seek ways to further enhance efficiency in cash management in ghana. 4. an important observation of the “ review of the cash cycle in ghana ” presented in july 2009 was that the gh¢1 banknote had taken on the role of three old banknote denominations ( i. e. ¢5, 000, ¢10, 000 and ¢20, 000 ), consequently putting the gh¢1 banknote under immense pressure, contributing to the reduction of the quality of the banknote in circulation. the worn out state of the gh¢1 banknote, in particular, defeats the clean note policy of the bank, which seeks to ensure that only good quality banknotes remain in circulation. 5. ladies and gentlemen of the media, since the re - denomination exercise, the general public have demanded an intermediary banknote between the gh¢1 and gh¢5 denominations to reduce the gap between the gh¢1 and gh¢5 banknotes, as well as improve exchangeability and facilitate transactions. 6. the gh¢2 banknote will therefore expand the series of banknotes in circulation thereby providing a better choice to the public. the introduction of the new banknote would also reduce the frequency, and associated cost, of printing large volumes of the gh¢1 banknote. portrait uniformity on ghana ’ s banknotes 7. there has been some criticism of the use of a single, identical portrait ( the big six ) on all the five denominations introduced in the july 2007 re - denomination exercise ( and the previous ¢10, 000 banknote that