remarks by ms caroline abel governor of the central bank of seychelles launching of the cbs strategic plan 2019 - 2023 monday 19 november 2018 venue : central bank of seychelles minister for finance, trade, investment and economic planning, ambassador maurice loustau – lalanne, board members, management and staff of cbs distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen good afternoon. it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all here today, to witness the launching of the new strategic plan of the central bank of seychelles. the 1st of december of this year will mark 40 years of the existence of a central banking institution in our island nation. and today ’ s official launch of our new strategic plan for 2019 to 2023, highlights the progress made by the bank, after standing decades of trials and triumphs. we have indeed come a long way and witnessed significant evolution in the face of various challenges both locally and on the external front, while striving to remain true to our mandate, which is to contribute towards the sustainable economic growth and development of seychelles through monetary policy and maintenance of a sound financial system. guided by a solid set of objectives, we have been able to discharge our responsibilities and make significant strides in achieving our vision. over the past few years, the institution, backed by its workforce, has worked tirelessly to maintain domestic price and financial system stability, strengthen the payment systems, enhance financial consumer protection, promote greater engagement with external stakeholders and continuously engage in capacity building. and as we stand here today, we can rightly be proud of our progress. nevertheless, we are not going to be complacent. we are now a more mature institution and we need to take on more responsibilities, if we are to continue improving. this responsibility rests on all of us, from our board, management, staff, our stakeholders - from both the public and private sector - and the public in general. this is our third strategic plan and it builds on the successes of previous ones. the strategic plan 2019 to 2023 has been prepared so we can enhance achievements made thus far and to continue focusing on achieving our mandated goals and objectives. the global economy is ever changing and we have to take a proactive stance, if we are to keep in pace with the developments. we need to ensure that our monetary policy implementations are effective, that we keep abreast with innovation, including the continuous modernization of our payment systems, and equally important is to ensure our population is empowered to make informed and sound financial decisions. planning for the future

responsibilities and must see protecting depositors or policy - holders as a major part of their responsibility. • third, external auditors must also be held to account and they must recognize that depositors, creditors and shareholders are looking to them for an independent opinion ; and • fourth, that investors also have a responsibility to understand the trade - off between risk and reward and to remember the old maxim – if it is too good to be true, it probably is. the present economic downturn also carries powerful lessons that we could refuse to learn, to our peril. one compelling lesson is that oil and gas brought us to where we are but that our reserves are by no means limitless and indeed they may be even smaller than we would like to believe. on this basis, we need to move quickly to establish a sustainable fiscal position and accelerate efforts at meaningful diversification. this is indeed a daunting task and would require close collaboration between government and private sector. if the non - energy export sector is our hope to medium - term economic viability, the inescapable consequence is that we would need to significantly increase our productivity levels. our recent intensified emphasis on education and training is a step in the right direction but these needs to be complemented by a much great focus on ict. finally, we need to fully exploit the opportunities offered by small business activity in niche industries. in case you have any doubts, i have tremendous confidence in this economy, in its resilience to overcome the current difficulties and its ability to meet the medium - term challenges that confront us. we like to boast about our native creativity, our enterprising spirit and our ability to overcome hurdles. i happen to believe that all this is true and that when the chips are down we will make the right decisions. however, we have a knack for putting off the difficult decisions for too long. let ’ s hope we don ’ t, this time around. let me again congratulate ansa merchant bank for showing continued faith in the economy of trinidad and tobago. thanks for inviting me.