stands out is its tremendous cost. the bill is still accumulating but for the region as a whole, the cost could be somewhere in the vicinity of 10 – 15 per cent of regional gdp. for all its negatives, the clico crisis served as an important wake - up call to the region. coming on the heels of the global financial turmoil, it was a clear reminder of the need to strengthen our financial and regulatory systems, so that they could withstand exogenous shocks and it underscored the idea that a co - ordinated regional approach was needed. it was against this background that the caricom heads ’ of government, at their july 2009 meeting requested regional central banks and other stakeholders to put in place a framework for regional financial stability to increase our resilience both to exogenous shocks and to intra - regional stresses. bis central bankers ’ speeches it is worth noting, ladies and gentlemen, that the objective characteristics of our region make a strong case for the regional approach to financial stability. we are small economies, with extensive economic links, with high vulnerability indices, compared with other regional groups ( like, for example, the eu ). moreover our islands are dominated by a short list of over - lapping financial institutions. on the downside, however, we currently have no regional regulatory institutions. specifically, we have nothing like the european systemic risk board which has some regulatory authority. the closest we come to a regional regulatory authority is the eccb, which covers only the oecs. what ’ s more, given the current state of the regional movement, i am not sure of the chances for a pan - caribbean regulatory authority. putting aside this issue for the time being, i would like to address the question, “ what should be the main elements of a new regional financial stability infra - structure for the caribbean region? ” and, i would like to propose the following : first – the region needs strengthened financial sector legislation, in the first round covering the banking system, the insurance and the credit union sectors ; second – we need to substantially upgrade financial sector supervision ; third – all countries should have deposit insurance ; fourth – all countries should have national crisis management plans ; and fifth – building on these national plans, we need to formulate a regional crisis management plan. permit me to say a few words about each of these elements. in many countries in the region, including my own, financial sector legislation is grossly deficient when compared to what obtain

governor ’ s feature address at the khazanah megatrends forum speaker : tan sri nor shamsiah mohd yunus / venue : kuala lumpur / language : english / speech / interview date : 03 oct 2022 / navigating malaysia's economic transition, in a post - covid world 1. a very good afternoon to all of you. i would like to thank khazanah for inviting me to speak. this morning, i will be pleased to share with you what we in bank negara malaysia are seeing in the economy today, and what we believe is needed to secure our future. 2. for a good part of the past three years, the world has been grappling with managing not only a health crisis, but an economic crisis. actions were taken to protect both lives and support people ’ s livelihoods. following the warp speed effort to vaccinate the country last year, containment measures were soon lifted and borders reopened. today, the economy is no longer in a crisis, and malaysia ’ s economic recovery is well underway. a number of key indicators support this. 3. first, the malaysian economy is showing positive growth momentum. this year, growth is expected to be strong. the reopening of international borders has and continues to lift tourism - related sectors. this will have significant spillovers to the rest of the economy given the importance of the services subsectors. also, investment activity and prospects continue to be supported by the realisation of multi - year projects. similarly, malaysia ’ s exports have been recording double digit growth since the start of 2021 and the order books of our exporters remain healthy. these positive developments will continue to provide support for growth in 2023. 4. second, the labour market has also shown strength. wages in both the manufacturing and services sectors have been increasing since the start of the year, at around 5 % and 7 %, respectively. unemployment is now less than 4 % and income prospects remain positive. 5. third, in spite of global inflationary pressures, inflation remains well anchored. headline inflation has averaged 3. 1 % year - to - date. it is largely supply - driven, but we have also seen stronger demand with the reopening of the economy. that said, we project that inflation will peak in the third quarter this year. in addition, the extent of upward pressures to inflation will remain partly contained by existing price controls and the prevailing spare capacity in the economy. 6.