, although it remains in negative territory, while the stock of unsold housing remains high. the outlook of progressively improving activity is closely linked to labour market developments, where the benefits of wage moderation and the improved incentives for job creation driven by the recent labour reform are becoming patent. the latest employment figures show a continuation of the positive trend discernible since the second half of 2013. thus, in recent months, social security registrations have continued to increase and the pace of decline of registered unemployment has stepped up. however, on the first - quarter figures for 2014, the unemployment rate remains very high, still close to 26 % of the labour force. the rate of inflation has been posting very moderate figures since autumn last year as a result of the removal from the index of the base effects linked to fiscal consolidation ; certain temporary factors, such as those relating to energy price developments ; and other more durable factors, relating to the economy ’ s excess capacity, the reduction in unit labour costs and the relative sluggishness of spending. for the remainder of the year the inflation rate is expected to hold at low levels, below the euro area average, thereby permitting further headway in gains in competitiveness with which to entrench a stronger recovery. low inflation is conducive to gains in income purchasing power, although the counterpoint to this is the greater difficulty this adds to further progress in household and corporate deleveraging. in the more immediate future, the advances made by the spanish economy augur a firming of the gradual path of recovery, underpinned by greater confidence, a progressive easing in financial tensions and a gradual improvement in the labour market. a crucial role will have to be played here by the re - balancing processes under way in the spanish economy, especially the redressing of the private sector ’ s financial position and fiscal consolidation. the successful culmination of these processes is pivotal for rooting the recovery in domestic and external confidence and for ensuring the external funding flows that are vital for making sustained medium - term growth possible. in sum, for the first time after years of crisis, we can discern the possibility of a gradual and sustainable recovery, the outcome of the progress made in correcting the imbalances that we had built up and of the structural reforms undertaken, whose results we are beginning to see. the task is not complete and much work remains to be done, both in europe and in spain. hopefully, however, the progressive perception of the

regional cooperation we hosted the 14th meeting of the comesa committee of governors of central banks in october 2009. the chairmanship of the comesa committee of governors of central banks passed to the bank of mauritius. – to mark the event, we invited two renowned speakers to make presentations on two issues of critical importance for central bank governors – “ the evolving structure and role of monetary policy committees ” and “ issues of governance in central banks ”. this initiative to invite external parties to meetings of governors was so well received and appreciated that the comesa committee decided that it would become a permanent feature in future meetings. – we marked our presence in regional and international fora and participated actively in the sadc committee of central bank governors, the meeting of governors of the association of african central banks and the commonwealth central bank governors meeting, which i had the honour of chairing. extending regional footprint the dynamism, with which the bank has gone regional, has heightened our visibility on the international front and has earned us much respect. with the support of comesa governors, our country was successful in its candidature to host afritac ( south ), one of the two new african technical assistance centres which the imf is establishing in africa, in the face of strong regional contenders. – the bank offered to house afritac ( south ) on one of the floors of the old bank of mauritius building which would be refurbished for the purpose. membership of islamic financial services board during the year, we moved from being an associate member to full membership of the board, with a seat on the governing council of the islamic financial services board ( ifsb ). – to support our plans to develop islamic banking and finance in mauritius, we joined ifsb initiatives to develop islamic liquidity management instruments with other participating countries. we participated fully in the preparatory work for the launch of a special purpose vehicle and envisage participation in its share capital. bank ’ s admission to the irving fisher committee we were admitted as a full institutional member of the irving fisher committee ( ifc ) on central bank statistics. mauritius is the second country in sub - saharan africa, after south africa, to become a full institutional member of the ifc, which has a total of 66 members. – our membership of the ifc comes at a time when our efforts are currently being directed towards improving the coverage and quality of our data to enable us to graduate to the special data dissemination standards of the imf. platinum commemorative coin mauritius joined the select