points to 7, 5 per cent on 8 june 2006 and by a further 50 basis points on 3 august 2006. however, future monetary policy decisions will depend on changes in the outlook for inflation and economic developments. monetary operations the bank uses open - market operations to provide and drain liquidity from the money market in order to maintain the liquidity requirement of banks at a level sufficient for the implementation of monetary policy in line with the stance determined by the mpc. deposits of banks at the bank in terms of the minimum statutory cash reserve requirement ( 2, 5 per cent of liabilities, as adjusted ) amounted to r28, 7 billion for the june / july maintenance period. as at the end of june 2006, total outstanding debentures on issue by the bank and longer - term reverse repurchase transactions amounted to r5, 4 billion and r2, 0 billion, respectively. the deposits of the corporation for public deposits with the bank, which amounted to r11, 1 billion at the same date, also contributed to the draining of excess liquidity. notes and coin in circulation also had a contractionary impact on liquidity, increasing from r49, 0 billion on 30 june 2005 to r53, 9 billion a year later. currency in circulation the daily average value of banknotes in circulation in the period 1 april 2005 to 31 march 2006 amounted to r46, 3 billion, while the average value of coin in circulation during the same period amounted to approximately r2, 7 billion. while banknotes in circulation increased by 10, 2 per cent over the previous corresponding period, coin in circulation increased by 9, 1 per cent. a seasonal peak for banknotes and coin in circulation of r57, 4 billion was reached on 23 december 2005. the demand for coin has shown a substantial increase in the past few months. this is particularly the case in respect of the demand for the 5c coin, which shows an increase of approximately 30 per cent, compared to the corresponding previous reporting period. the bank has co - operated with commercial banks in the development of a more efficient and effective integrated national cash management system. the improved system has the potential to limit the cash holdings of banks, thereby contributing to a reduction in the cost of cash to the public. gold and foreign exchange reserves the activities of the bank in the domestic foreign exchange market are aimed at managing domestic money - market liquidity conditions through foreign exchange swaps, servicing the foreign exchange requirements of clients and increasing foreign exchange reserves in a

fund to give direction to developing countries in times of crises than to provide similar advice to advanced countries. notwithstanding the weaknesses highlighted and the clear need for improvements, the impression gained at the annual meetings earlier this week suggest that, with the right level of commitment from all stakeholders, the bwis may adequately reform in the period ahead and regain their relevance. where do we go from here? with the financial landscape around us under severe stress, we can rightly question, “ is there light at the end of the tunnel? ” given the changing landscape of the world economy and the failure of today ’ s multi - lateral institutions to provide us with a collective response to the crisis, an ambitious rethink of the global financial system is required. we need to go far beyond incremental changes of the global financial environment and our ambition in the reform of the global architecture of finance and economic policy making must match the gravity of the crisis we currently face, as well as the realities of the global economic environment. the recent financial turmoil has exposed the peripheral nature of the imf's functions in global finance. once the crisis struck forcefully, its role was unclear and peripheral. the fund needs to be strengthened in order to place it on the centre stage, unless we would wish it to become totally irrelevant. on the other hand the crisis presents the imf with an opportunity to revive itself. with the necessary expertise, its universal membership and the convening power it can play a vital role into the future, especially if it is able to transform its governance structures to meet the challenges of tomorrow ’ s world. other institutions such as the financial stability forum, the bank for international settlements and the g - 20 have also enhanced their claim on providing leadership in the global economic environment. the g - 7 has proved itself to be increasingly irrelevant in the changing economic environment of today. lessons to be learnt from the current crisis it is too early to draw lessons from the crisis that is yet to run its full course. however we must continue to debate the causes of the crisis and contribute to solutions to avoid a similar situation globally and at home. we need stronger institutions that should be lasting, so that the current problems would not recur quickly. however, as the australian prime minister recently said at the united nations : “ the failures that we have seen in recent times do not lie in the institutions alone. the failures lie more in the poverty of our political will to animate these institutions to discharge of the purposes for which