in the asean region, and it is the leading global centre for sukuk issuance. the regulatory framework and supporting infrastructure for bond issuances here is comprehensive. in the past, many 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches foreign corporations including multinationals have issued bonds and sukuk out of malaysia. with the increased financing requirement by chinese companies for infrastructure development throughout the asian region, estimated to be more than usd1 trillion in the initial stage, investment banks should seize the business opportunities in bonds origination, distribution, investment and trading services. our markets have already seen issuances of ‘ dim sum ’ bonds which were highly successful, such as the previous axiata and cagamas issuances. 4. fourth, is to offer competitive trade financing and settlement services. from our industry engagements through bank negara malaysia ’ s financial markets committee, a key area that we need to strengthen in support of our international and regional trade is trade financing. given the importance of china to us in this, renminbi trade financing should be given special attention. for corporations which trade predominantly with china, there are many benefits to settle trade in renminbi, in particular, lower foreign exchange conversion costs and greater access to new markets in china. in switching to renminbi, corporations should review on the internal changes required, such as invoicing and trade documentation in renminbi, accounting and any other operational procedures, including engaging banks which are able to provide advice and facilitate trade financing in renminbi. banks need to be ready in this area, to develop the system to support the trade financing and to be familiar and current with the rules and regulations of the chinese authorities. further improvement should be looked into to entice more participation, and efficient ways should be explored to ease trade facilitation in renminbi. in another aspect, this space can also capitalise on another work area of the financial market committee in looking at the introduction of a more standardised documentation requirement across industry. coupled with the broader and more flexible trade financing facilities and hedging tools, this will create a more business - friendly market which will in turn amplify participation. 5. last but not least, is to develop investment products in renminbi. in the past, the efforts in promoting the use of renminbi has primarily emphasised transactions or trades in goods and services between the two countries. with the transformation and internationalisation of renminbi, we should accelerate

##ised rate of 6 per cent in the first quarter, coming off a high base. although mining output rose slightly, this was not near the levels seen at the beginning of 2000. demand for platinum and coal remained firm but diamond stockpiling continued in the face of weaker demand. of some worry is that the sector that bore the brunt of the slowdown was the manufacturing sector. the growth rate in this sector slowed down from an annualised 4, 5 per cent in the fourth quarter to a mere 1 per cent in the first quarter. this is somewhat puzzling because there appears to be strong demand for manufactured goods. domestic demand remained strong in the first quarter with household and government consumption expenditure rising. however, the growth in real fixed capital formation and inventory investment accelerated. however, it was net inventory investment which slowed down the growth in aggregate spending in the fourth quarter of 2000. an acceleration in inventory levels followed in the first quarter of 2001. this suggests that producers are positive about south africa ’ s future growth prospects and anticipate an increase in domestic demand. household spending was still holding firm in the first quarter of 2001. real final consumption expenditure by households increased at a quarter - on - quarter seasonally adjusted and annualised rate of 3 per cent in the first quarter, slightly lower than the 3, 5 per cent recorded for the fourth quarter of 2000. the weakness was mainly due to a slowdown in spending on services other than communications services. a rise of 28 % in the purchase of cellular telephones over the past year was not enough to cushion this. the real gross fixed capital formation accelerated steadily in the 12 months to the first quarter. the private and general government sector registered high fixed capital formation but there was a decline in the public corporations sector. the private sector continued to expand communication infrastructure. general government also increased their outlays on infrastructure spending, although from a very low base. total fixed capital formation amounted to approximately 15, 5 per cent of gdp in the first quarter. 3. employment and labour remuneration south africa is labouring under a scenario of low growth that appears insufficient to create the levels of employment we would like to see. however, it must be remembered that a drop in formal unemployment does not necessarily imply an equal rise in the number of the unemployed. often those who are no longer employed in the formal sectors of the economy enter the informal sectors or become self - employed. from 1999 to 2000, employment fell in the formal private and public non -