. 27 per cent in the weighted average selling rate for the review period as investors, in the main, continued to exhibit a preference for jamaica dollar assets. the demand pressures in september resulted in a 0. 78 per cent depreciation for the month and occurred in the context of reduced net private inflows as well as lower foreign exchange supplies from tourism. the bank sold approximately us $ 20. 0 million net to the market during the quarter. despite this, the nir increased by us $ 177. 9 million resulting mainly from the proceeds of an inter - american development bank loan of us $ 200. 0 million to the government. at end - september the nir stock was us $ 1. 91 billion, substantially exceeding the end - september target under the imf stand - by arrangement. at that date, gross reserves amounted to us $ 2. 79 billion, representing 20. 5 weeks of projected goods and services imports, comparing favourably with the international benchmark of 12 weeks. in the context of relatively buoyant jamaica dollar liquidity conditions, stability in the foreign exchange market and improved investor sentiment, market - determined interest rates continued to decline in the september quarter. at the end of september the average yield on the benchmark 6 - month treasury bill was 7. 99 per cent a decline of 1. 27 percentage points relative to the yield at the end of june. similarly, the average yields on the 1 - month and 3 - month instruments fell by 0. 72 percentage points and 0. 77 percentage points to 8. 26 per cent and 7. 75 per cent, respectively. inflation headline inflation for the september quarter was 1. 3 per cent, below the range of 1. 5 per cent – 2. 5 per cent that we were projecting when we met in august. the out - turn for the quarter is also significantly below the rate of 2. 6 per cent recorded for the june 2010 quarter as well as the 3. 8 per cent average inflation for the previous five september quarters. similar to headline inflation, the bank ’ s measures of core inflation were all below the rates in the previous quarter as well as the rates in the corresponding quarter of 2009. the lower than expected inflation for the review quarter was against the background of a decline in energy prices, relative stability in the exchange rate and continued weak consumer demand. lower energy prices in the quarter were typified by a 2. 6 per cent decline in the average west texas intermediate crude oil price. partly offsetting

markets to increase their size and scope, and doing away with the barriers to the cross - border functioning of markets implied by differences in national policy concerning insolvency, taxation and other areas. promoting a single rulebook in a wide range of areas, including consumer protection, anti - money laundering and accounting rules, is also key to the success of cmu. regulatory consistency in a broad sense and a level playing field, as opposed to leniency, are crucial to render eu markets attractive. at the european level, brexit is an additional challenge which may lead to fragmentation as services could be provided in a more decentralised way. at the same time, eu27 capital markets are still subject to national rules and supervision, making for a patchwork of regimes which prevent the integration of markets and may open the door to regulatory arbitrage. as a response to brexit, we need to develop truly european capital markets, and this makes progress on the cmu front even more urgent. as the united kingdom leaves the eu ’ s regulatory and supervisory framework and develops a new one of its own, a different relationship between the two jurisdictions will need to be defined. it will need to balance the benefits of continued integration with the uk financial markets with the potential risks to financial stability, consumer and investor protection, and the integrity of the single market. this path will not be easy for either side as the lure of the flexible and light - touch regulation of the past can be strong, bringing with it the risk of divergence between eu and uk rules or a potential race to the bottom. and these considerations will also play out as we review the role of equivalence regimes in eu financial legislation. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches european responses are the way forward turning to policy responses, the way forward is clear : we need to move away from national responses and promote european ones within the cmu and banking union agendas. let me briefly emphasise five priority areas. first, we need to complete the banking union ’ s institutional architecture. in particular, we should ensure that the backstop to the single resolution fund is fully operational, agree on a banking union solution to liquidity needs in resolution and define a clear path towards a european deposit insurance scheme ( edis ). a fully fledged edis would facilitate cross - border banking since depositor protection would be independent of a bank ’ s location, and ensure that an increase in cross - border activity does not reduce the overall resili