late last year. just a couple of weeks ago, the us federal open market committee ( fomc ) reduced the federal funds rate. the reserve bank of australia has also reduced the overnight cash rate in recent months, as has the reserve bank of new zealand. moreover, market pricing implies that a number of central banks in advanced economies are expected to reduce policy rates in the coming months. central banks in a large share of emes have also reduced their policy rates. in the rest of my presentation, i will outline some reasons for this change in the stance of monetary policies. i'll then turn to the response of financial markets to those changes, with a focus on some of the key aspects of the transmission to financial conditions in australia. the changing stance of monetary policies the market's view of the likely course of monetary policies in the major advanced economies has changed noticeably in just the past few months ( graph 3 ). two weeks ago, the us fomc reduced the fed funds rate by 25 basis points. at the same time, the chair of the fomc emphasised that the us economy remains strong, and that the policy easing should be viewed as a ‘ mid - cycle adjustment ’. in other words, more of a course correction than a reversal of course. the fomc emphasised that it was responding to subdued inflation and the downside risks to the outlook for us economic activity. the fomc also noted the easing in global growth, reflected most recently in a softening in business investment. given all of this, and the recent ratchetting up of the us – china dispute, [ 2 ] market pricing currently suggests that the fed is expected to lower its policy rate by a further 100 basis points by around this time next year. graph 3 while us economic growth has held up reasonably well, growth in the euro area has slowed more noticeably. at its recent meeting, the european central bank ( ecb ) emphasised that it will provide additional stimulus in the absence of a further improvement in the outlook for inflation, which has averaged under 1 per cent for the past few years, compared with the ecb's medium - term target of close to, but below, 2 per cent. should further stimulus be necessary, the ecb noted that it could lower its policy rate, strengthen its guidance on the future path of policy, and resume the expansion of its balance sheet ( by purchasing additional government and private sector securities ). market analysts expect a package of

ignazio visco : an overview of the work of the g20 under the italian presidency remarks by mr ignazio visco, governor of the bank of italy, at the singapore fintech festival, virtual, 10 november 2021. * * * i would like to thank ravi menon for his kind invitation to this fintech festival and the staff of the monetary authority of singapore for their very helpful assistance. in these remarks, i will provide a brief overview of the work and the main results achieved this year by the group of twenty ( g20 ) under the italian presidency, with special reference to its finance track. italy took up the g20 presidency at a critical time, not only due to the pandemic, but also because multilateralism had suffered major setbacks in previous years. this bout of inwardorientation in economic relations is perhaps best exemplified by the trade tensions between the united states and china, but is certainly not limited to this, with brexit being another important example. this “ crisis of multilateralism ” has its deepest roots in the prolonged inattention given to the side effects of globalisation and technological progress. these phenomena, despite their positive impact on welfare and their contribution to the reduction of cross - country inequalities, have caused significant losses for segments of populations, not least within advanced economies, that were unprepared for these changes and found themselves unprotected during the process. the start of our g20 presidency in december 2020 also coincided with the transitioning to the new administration in the united states. since then, multilateral dialogue has been reignited across many dimensions and this momentum has positively impacted our g20 presidency, facilitating the achievement of several important results. the key challenges that all our economies are currently facing continue to be related to the pandemic and to its direct and indirect consequences. this is the main reason why many people have been pushed into poverty, unemployment has increased, and both public and private debt have risen. the unequal distribution of vaccines in all regions, especially in the least developed ones, remains a major risk factor for the global economy. in order to help the weakest economies address the health crisis, debt service payments for 50 countries have been suspended since 2020, and the italian presidency has succeeded in extending this provision until the end of this year. moreover, a consensus has been reached for a general allocation of special drawing rights by the imf ( for 650 billion dollars ), which will allow low