hospital ward upgrades ; involvement with senior citizens ; the wows cancer initiative, just to name a few. and yes the name hfc cropped up recently pitching in to reward fiji ’ s first olympic champion, iliesa delana. in addition to all this, hfc has introduced products to support the reserve bank ’ s initiatives towards export and import substitution and flood rehabilitation. i am told that there are a few more innovative products in the pipeline to be launched soon. i commend the board and management of hfc for their empathy and support of nation building initiatives, not only in terms of the facilities i have mentioned, but also in our financial inclusion initiatives. the fiji economy ladies and gentlemen, please allow me say a few words about our economy. you would be aware that our latest forecast has growth pegged at 2. 7 percent this year, the strongest for some time. the forecast is currently being reviewed by the macroeconomic policy and technical committees as we gear up for the 2013 national budget announcement. however, all indicators are generally moving in line with expectations. real sector growth has been broad based. while some sectors are exhibiting lower growth than forecasted, others are exceeding forecasts. investment is picking up and consumption is strong. there are extremely positive signs that we are on the cusp of strong economic growth going forward. this is underpinned by the ongoing reforms by government, including the fiscal measures put in place in the 2012 budget, which are fueling the positive sentiments. our key threats are any deterioration to global growth which could impact on our trading partners, hikes in commodity or oil prices and of course natural disasters. bis central bankers ’ speeches in terms of the reserve bank ’ s twin statutory objectives, inflation is trending down ; the year - end inflation forecast remains unchanged at 3. 5 percent, and foreign reserves are comfortable at just under $ 1. 6 billion or the equivalent of 5 months of retained imports. given this scenario, our monetary policy stance remains accommodative. concluding remarks coming back to the business at hand, it is investment like hfc has put in place here today, that will fuel and drive the increasing positive sentiment in the economy. there have been a number of new investments noted in this city and we certainly hope the trend will continue. i would like to again thank isikeli for his kind invitation. i reiterate my thanks to the board, management and staff of hfc for their support and cooperation with the

. it is therefore pleasing to know that fiji is keeping up there with the global trend. what is fijiclear? what is fijiclear? fijiclear enables the processing of payments to be done as and when they happen – hence the term “ real time ”. it is an electronic way of making payments within a country and getting immediate settlement of those payments. in simple terms it means that instead of waiting for several days for funds to be available for use, the receiving party or beneficiary will have funds in their account within one business day or in some cases almost instantaneously. similarly, the party making the payment is assured of safe and immediate delivery of those funds. the key elements of fijiclear are speed, certainty, reliability, safety and security, convenience and cost. the system is for the transfer and settlement of fiji dollar denominated funds only. it enables payments instructions to be processed and settled individually and continuously throughout the working day. all settled transactions are considered as final and irrevocable. thus the receiver will be able to use the funds immediately without being exposed to the risk of the funds not being settled. this is in contrast to the previous manual system which operated on a deferred net settlement system, where payments are processed throughout the day but the actual entries are only affected at the end of the day. benefits fijiclear there are a number of benefits of using fijiclear. i had pointed out already the wider benefits to the economy and the financial system. to the payee i. e. the person receiving money, the benefits include : • funds are credited into the account straight away. so there is no waiting of 3 - 7 days for funds to be cleared when using a cheque ; • there is time savings as one does not have to physically visit a bank to deposit cheque ; • there is no uncertainty of any dishonoured cheques with the associated charges and loss of income ; • immediate crediting of account means that any overdraft limit is reduced and hence lower interest charges ; • immediate crediting of funds will help in cash flow ; and • reduced overhead or staff cost as there is less paper work. there are also benefits to the payer i. e. those making the payment : • there is less risk of transporting cheques ; • there is savings in time and charges ; and • there is better business relationship with creditors. i therefore strongly encourage businesses as well as individuals to use this modern