ravi menon : singapore as a centre for fund - raising in asia keynote speech by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the singapore exchange capital markets symposium, 17 november 2021. * * * ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. asia is becoming a global force in capital markets. in 2020, equity capital raised in the asiapacific region increased by two - thirds. debt capital increased by 10 %. the asia - pacific accounted for more than one third of global equity proceeds as well as one - third of debt issuance last year. there are three reasons why asian capital markets are poised for continued rapid growth : dynamic companies with large fundraising needs ; large pools of capital looking for investment opportunities ; and effective platforms to match fundraising needs with capital asia is fertile ground for innovative companies to thrive. with rising household incomes and increasingly tech - savvy consumers, asian consumer markets are burgeoning. this has helped to spur a burst of entrepreneurship in asia. we see this innovative energy across asian cities, from bangalore to shenzhen, jakarta to manila, from ho chi minh city to bangkok, and of course singapore. asia is now home to a large number of high - growth companies, such as carousell, carro, justco, mirxes, and ninja van. to scale up, asian companies need to raise capital. as these firms expand into more markets, they will need pe / vc funding, and eventually tap on the public markets. asia has attracted substantial institutional funds from around the world. global investors ’ allocations to the region have been rising, alongside asia ’ s increasing weight in global indices. the region has become a favourite hunting ground for investors, in search of the next unicorns. households and institutions in the region have themselves become ample sources of wealth looking for investment opportunities. these pools of capital can be mobilised through our capital markets, to finance the region ’ s high - growth enterprises. asia has an abundance of channels through which companies and capital can meet. there are established bourses as well as newer, tech - focused exchanges. there is also a growing number of blockchain - enabled platforms. example : dbs bank has launched the dbs digital exchange for the tokenisation, trading and custody of digital assets. singapore ’ s value proposition singapore is well poised to become one of the leading fund - raising centres in asia. there are four key dimensions to singapore ’ s value proposition : a vibrant ecosystem for private equity and venture capital ;

koji ishida : recent economic and financial developments speech by mr koji ishida, member of the policy board of the bank of japan, at a meeting with business leaders, tochigi, 11 march 2013. * * * i. economic activity and prices a. recent financial and economic developments 1. overview i would like to start by looking at recent developments in the global economy. the global economy plunged following the lehman shock in 2008, but moved subsequently toward recovery. since mid - 2011 however, it has decelerated following the outbreak of the european sovereign debt crisis triggered by the fiscal problem in greece. thereafter, as the debt problems in major economies such as spain and italy also worsened, the euro area economy entered a severe recession and the real gdp growth rate for the area turned negative in 2012. in addition, the growth rate declined for the chinese economy, which exports a great deal to europe, and emerging and commodity - exporting economies in general were seriously affected. in these circumstances, japan ’ s economy has inevitably undergone significant adjustments since summer 2012, such as in the form of a decrease in production and curbs on business fixed investment due to a drop in exports. the problems in the euro area have shown signs of stabilizing, reflecting progress made since the latter half of 2012 in establishing frameworks to avert a crisis. examples include the introduction of a program called outright monetary transactions ( omts ), through which the european central bank ( ecb ) purchases government bonds issued by euro area countries facing financial difficulties, and the start of the operation of the european stability mechanism ( esm ). in this situation, markets outside the euro area have begun to factor in the bottoming out of respective economies. the international monetary fund ( imf ) has projected that the global economy will recover in 2013 and 2014, having bottomed out in 2012. 2. european economy the euro area economy, which is considered to have triggered the global economic slowdown in 2012, remains in a moderate recessionary phase. private consumption in the euro area has been on a downtrend since 2011 against the backdrop of the debt problems. car sales have been particularly weak. looking at exports and production, exports to outside the area had been solid, primarily in germany with its competitive edge, owing in part to the depreciation of the euro to date. however, these exports have more recently shown sluggish growth due to the deceleration in the global economy. as a result