in pursuing this target, we understand that in some years, on account of natural disasters or major capital development projects, the ratio may temporarily rise. however, we continue to encourage our governments to enact fiscal resilience frameworks, thereby creating buffers and opportunities to pursue fiscal prudence with some enterprise. second, the council has agreed that the respective governments would lay, in their respective parliaments, their medium - term debt management strategies ( mtds ) and also publish them to strengthen and enhance the transparency and the credibility of the debt management process. conclusion in conclusion, i wish to thank all my colleagues across the bank and our several partners who have assisted with this project. i specifically recognise, teresa smith, our director of statistics, mrs. juletta edinborough, deputy director ( debt ), ms. rhina meade, project lead and mr. john venner, adviser. i also thank : our developers : ian mitchell and colleagues at emagine solutions inc. of saint lucia ; and our partners : diego rivetti while he was at the imf ( now at the world bank ) ; obert nyawata and thordur jonasson from the imf money and capital markets department. above all, i express gratitude to our member governments for your active participation and support for this project. we trust that you will find this debt information utility useful. i thank you all. page 3 of 3

ben s bernanke : policy - oriented research on u. s. housing and mortgage markets welcoming remarks by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the federal reserve system and federal deposit insurance corporation conference on mortgage foreclosures and the future of housing, arlington, virginia, 25 october 2010. * * * good morning. it ’ s my pleasure to welcome you to this joint conference of the federal reserve system and the federal deposit insurance corporation ( fdic ). our program over the next two days will highlight policy - oriented research on u. s. housing and mortgage markets. i would like to thank the many talented people throughout the federal reserve system and at the fdic who have worked together to make this conference a reality. before i address the specific topics of this conference, i would like to note that we have been concerned about reported irregularities in foreclosure practices at a number of large financial institutions. the federal banking agencies are working together to complete an in - depth review of practices at the largest mortgage servicing operations. we are looking intensively at the firms ’ policies, procedures, and internal controls related to foreclosures and seeking to determine whether systematic weaknesses are leading to improper foreclosures. we take violations of proper procedures seriously. we anticipate preliminary results of the review next month. in addition, federal reserve staff members and their counterparts at other federal agencies are evaluating the potential effects of these problems on the real estate market and financial institutions. any discussion of housing policy in this country must begin with some recognition of the importance americans attach to homeownership. for many of us, owning a home signaled a passage into adulthood that coincided with the start of a career and family. high levels of homeownership have been shown to foster greater involvement in school and civic organizations, higher graduation rates, and greater neighborhood stability. recognizing these benefits, our society has taken steps to encourage homeownership. tax incentives, mortgage insurance from the federal housing administration, and other government policies all contributed to a long rise in the u. s. homeownership rate – from 45 percent in 1940 to a peak of 69 percent in 2004. but, as recent events have demonstrated, homeownership is only good for families and communities if it can be sustained. home purchases that are very highly leveraged or unaffordable subject the borrower and lender to a great deal of risk.