orderly manner, intervening in the fx markets only to moderate excessive movements. 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches and they have room to use fiscal policy to support growth, as debt positions are generally healthy. take indonesia for example. the currency has come under some pressure but the macroeconomic fundamentals are essentially sound. the economy is growing at a respectable 5 %. inflation is under control, at about 3. 5 % – an achievement compared to the past. the fiscal deficit has come down and is now about 2 % of gdp – not an alarming number. total debt - to - gdp ratio is 30 % – a respectable number by any international comparison. the current account deficit has slipped somewhat but, at 3 % of gdp, is not unduly large. and it is not unusual for a developing country to run a current account deficit to finance investment for future growth. and indonesia ’ s policy responses to - date have demonstrated a willingness to take tough measures to build up resilience the central bank has hiked interest rates. the government has been re - evaluating import - intensive infrastructure spending. markets can sometimes over - react and investors sell down eme assets in a general knee - jerk risk - off mood. but as investors understand better that emerging asian economies are on a strong footing, they are becoming more discerning. and contagion effects from other emes will then reduce over time. more importantly, the asean growth story remains intact. asean is poised for continued healthy growth over the medium term, on the back of macroeconomic stability. the asean - 5 economies – indonesia, malaysia, philippines, thailand and singapore – are expected to grow at close to 5 % per annum over the next 5 years. this is higher compared to latin america ( 2. 8 % ) and eastern europe ( 3. 3 % ). asean ’ s resilience stems from fundamental drivers that support the region ’ s growth in a mutually reinforcing fashion rising middle class : rising affluence of the middle class will spur consumption, including a range of modern services – especially finance and insurance, professional services, tourism, healthcare and education. urbanisation : rural - urban migration and the expansion of cities will spur sizeable demand for infrastructure. integration : asean ’ s growing integration – increasingly powered by technology and ecommerce – will allow the region to reap complementarities and synergies to sustain growth over the long term. the asean economic community ( aec ) blueprint

a percentage of total banking assets remain small – at about less than 20 %, – this has risen over the years. we are seeing more examples of successful and viable islamic financing products in the international marketplace. islamic banking is getting more widespread in muslim and non - muslim countries alike. takaful insurance and islamic mutual funds are becoming commonplace. in fact, these products have become so popular, even non - muslims are investing in them. we can expect to see islamic finance develop further globally, eventually becoming an integral component of the international financial system. singapore wants to develop islamic finance as well. this will make our international financial centre more complete. the development of islamic finance here can take advantage of our capabilities in wealth management, project financing and trade financing. we have been working in close partnership with the industry to review our regulatory framework, and support and facilitate financial institutions to provide a wide suite of islamic financial services and products. more middle eastern banks are setting up offices in singapore. at the end of 2005, we had six middle eastern banks. in 2006, two more came. since the beginning of this year, three banks have applied to set up representative offices here. many of these middle eastern banks service islamic financing needs. singapore welcomes more banks from the middle east to set up here and to partner us in the growth of our financial centre. beyond middle eastern banks, we have also seen international banks such as citigroup and standard chartered introduce islamic finance and murabaha products from singapore. more financial institutions are using singapore as a launch pad for innovative new islamic products. singapore will continue to co - operate with market participants and other countries like malaysia, indonesia, bahrain, kuwait and the uae on the development of islamic finance. integration of awqaf into islamic finance let me now turn to waqf. historically, the revenue generated in waqf has been applied to traditional uses like maintenance of religious buildings. but this is changing. proceeds from the estates are now used to contribute more widely to society. rules governing the administration of waqf have become increasingly progressive. in kuwait and qatar, revenue from waqf has been used to build hospitals, universities and commercial and office complexes. townships have even been built in morocco. such innovative financial uses help to unlock the economic potential of waqf. in singapore, we have the example of an integrated mixed - development at bencoolen street, comprising a mosque, service apartments and a commercial complex. this was made possible through