total number of poor people is still a problem. if the fruits of globalisation do not continue to spread to more countries with a poor population and within countries, there is also a risk of more states collapsing or other political problems that could slow down growth in the poor countries, and also have negative consequences for the rest of the world. the growing discrepancy between different regions is therefore worrying. this was clearly illustrated during the 1990s, when growth in asia averaged 7 per cent, while the figures for latin america and africa south of the sahara were 3. 4 per cent and 2. 3 per cent respectively. there is a huge contrast between, for instance, china, which has succeeded in lifting around 400 million people out of extreme poverty over the past twenty years, and africa south of the sahara, where the number of poor people increased by 150 million during the same period. in addition to weak states and internal conflicts, the african continent is hard hit by hiv / aids, which in some countries has reduced the average length of life from 55 years in 1990 to below 40 years in 2002, and left many children and young people to their own devices, without any adult authority. one of the most important challenges in future is thus to try to integrate africa into the global economy to a greater extent. here, both the african countries themselves and we in the industrialised world can make important contributions. some historical reflections on globalisation and technological changes despite all the talk of the “ new ” global economy, the present international economic integration is actually no new phenomenon. during the fifty years prior to the first world war, there was considerable cross - border mobility for both goods and capital. then, as now, the increased globalisation was driven by trade liberalisation and major technological advances, thanks to the development of railways, steam engines and electricity. in some respects the integration was even more extensive at the beginning of the 20th century than it is today. for instance, foreign direct investment was a much greater percentage of gdp, labour was much more mobile across national borders and even agriculture was more liberalised. however, in other respects it can reasonably be claimed that the world economy is more interlaced now than it was a hundred years ago. the first difference is that a much larger percentage of the countries in the world now participate in the global economy, after opening up their borders to trade and investment and adopting liberal market reforms. another aspect that should be highlighted is that although the net flows of international capital are lower

##r system operated by the national clearing house — kir s. a. ) payment systems, thus ensuring provision of safe and efficient services related to settlement of both types of zloty payments. the scope of services for the banking sector was expanded in 2005 to include two new types of payment systems for settlement of eurodenominated ( domestic and cross - border ) transactions, namely : the sorbnet - euro system, processing mainly large - amount ( interbank and customer ) payments, and the euroelixir system, which provides cheaper and more rapid settlement of retail payments in euro. the sorbnet - euro system facilitates transfers of payments to the target system, thus ensuring real - time processing of cross - border payments between banks in poland and those in the eu member states. apart from poland, only three eu member states outside the euro area ( i. e. denmark, sweden and great britain ) have introduced similar changes to the domestic payment system and ensured a link to the pan - european infrastructure. no other new eu member state has implemented such changes to - date. the elixir system, operated by kir s. a., is one of the state - of - the - art payment systems in the european union. it is marked by very frequent settlements ( three settlement sessions a day at the national bank of poland ), which ensures a brief settlement cycle and a closure thereof within a single working day. the exchange of payment orders between banks is effected only electronically. in addition to the elixir system, kir s. a. has recently launched the euroelixir system ( in january 2006, 34 banks including the national bank of poland and nine out of ten largest polish banks participated in the system ), designed to settle euro - denominated transactions, both domestic ( with no amount - related limitations ) and cross - border ones ( up to 12, 500 euro and, as of january 1, 2006, up to 50, 000 euro ). in the case of cross - border transactions, this can be achieved due to the national bank of poland ’ s participation in the step 2 and euro 1 systems. despite a relatively high level of development of the polish payment infrastructure, it is hardly used by individual consumers. poland has witnessed a significant progress in the development of e - banking over the past few years ; however, compared to other eu member states and the neighbouring countries, our position is still weak, taking into account the number of customer bank accounts