today, inflation has averaged almost exactly 2 per cent. moreover, not only has inflation fallen, it has become more stable. indeed, the trend of inflation - as measured by what we call “ core inflation ” - has stayed within the target range almost continuously for the past 10 years. more importantly, we found that, after a few years of inflation targeting, the inflation expectations of canadians fell into line with the 2 per cent target. and expectations have remained close to the target in recent years. another major adjustment began in the middle of the 1990s. at that time, canada was facing an unsustainable fiscal situation. spending had to be put on a viable long - term course, and the ratio of public debt to gdp put on a steady downward track. by the middle of the decade, governments - federal and provincial - had begun to take the painful but necessary steps to balance their books and reduce their debt burdens. this fiscal adjustment helped improve the credibility of canada ’ s economic policies and reduced the risk premium that investors demanded on canadian government bonds. lower interest rates reduced debt - servicing costs and stimulated economic growth, which brought in more revenues for governments. the federal debt - togdp ratio has fallen to about 44 per cent, from a peak of close to 70 per cent. the ratio of total government liabilities to gdp has declined from a peak of about 100 per cent to about 80 per cent, according to the oecd. the other major change in the 1990s was the structural adjustments that took place in the public and private sectors. in both cases, these adjustments were enormously helpful, because they made the canadian economy more flexible. in the public sector, governments moved to reduce distortions in the economy, by eliminating many industrial subsidies, lowering income taxes, and putting the canada and quebec pension plans on a sustainable basis. further, the government made changes to its system of unemployment insurance, basing the program more on insurance principles and improving the employability of labour. in the private sector, businesses and employees faced restructuring in the wake of free - trade agreements, as canada opened up further to international competition. none of this was easy, but it did leave canada ’ s economy more flexible, and in a better position to handle economic shocks and, therefore, to grow sustainably. canada ’ s floating exchange rate helped facilitate the adjustments that were taking place on these various fronts. it helped by sending signals to businesses about the kinds of adjustments that were needed. firms that produced

various regional platforms, including asean + 3, emeap and seacen. more recently, a series of measures have been undertaken to encourage the use of renminbi in the settlement of our bilateral trade and investment. in 2009, bank negara malaysia entered into a currency swap agreement ( csa ) with the people ’ s bank of china, which was renewed in 2012 with an expanded amount of rmb180 billion, with the objective to ensure a ready supply of renminbi in the domestic financial markets to meet the demand by businesses. efforts were also made to enhance the transparency in the exchange rate between renminbi and ringgit transactions. in 2010, a direct market quote of renminbi against the ringgit was initiated in the kuala lumpur interbank market as well as in the interbank foreign exchange market on the china foreign exchange trade system ( cfets ). with these developments there is now a direct renminbi / ringgit quotation in the spot market and a renminbi / ringgit forward exchange rate for the malaysian market. to further facilitate transactions, the real time gross settlement ( rtgs ) payment system in malaysia has also been expanded since 2012 to include settlement services in renminbi. the size of renminbi trade settlement in malaysia is expanding progressively reflecting the shift among both malaysian and chinese companies across the commodity, manufacturing and services sectors. there are also now 19 financial institutions that facilitate renminbi trade bis central bankers ’ speeches settlement, double the number in 2009. there is also a growing interest in raising financing in renminbi in the malaysian bond market. in 2011, khazanah nasional berhad successfully issued the world ’ s first offshore renminbi sukuk in 2011 and subsequently axiata group berhad issued the world ’ s first rated renminbi sukuk in 2012. today, in conjunction with the opening of the beijing office, bank negara malaysia wishes to announce further measures to reinforce the progress that has been made, and as part of the efforts to promote bilateral trade and investment. i. to facilitate more effective renminbi liquidity management by our financial institutions in malaysia, bank negara malaysia is introducing of a renminbi liquidity facility ( rlf ) to licensed onshore banks. this facility aims to enhance renminbi liquidity in the domestic market by providing an additional avenue for the licensed onshore banks to obtain or invest rmb with the bank. the bank, through its