, it is also important that wage settlements move away from automatic, backward - looking indexation mechanisms. turning to the monetary analysis, annual m3 growth rose to 9. 3 % in november. this represents its highest annual rate of growth since the introduction of the euro and, indeed, its strongest aggregate growth in the euro area group of countries since 1990. while the significance of monthly figures should not be overstated, as they may also be influenced by temporary factors, the series of strong monetary data over the past couple of months underscore the continued very dynamic underlying rate of broad money expansion in the euro area. rising short - term interest rates, in combination with low long - term interest rates, have exerted only a limited influence over monetary developments in recent months. this has mainly taken the form of shifts among the components of m3 rather than constraining the overall expansion of m3 itself. in particular, over recent months the annual growth rate of m1 has moderated somewhat, reflecting shifts from overnight deposits into other components of m3 that offer more market - related returns. all in all, the rate of monetary and credit expansion remains rapid, reflecting the low level of interest rates and the strengthening of economic activity in the euro area. in particular, the annual growth rate of loans to the private sector was 11. 2 % in november, unchanged from the previous month. while – in the context of rising interest rates – the growth of household borrowing has shown signs of stabilisation in recent months, albeit at very high rates, the growth of borrowing by non - financial corporations continues to trend upwards. thus, credit continues to expand rapidly and in a broadbased fashion, thereby remaining the main driver of the current strong monetary growth when viewed from the counterpart side of the mfi balance sheet. taking a medium to longer - term perspective, the latest developments are consistent with a continuation of the persistent upward trend in the underlying rate of monetary expansion. following several years of robust monetary growth, the liquidity situation in the euro area is ample by all plausible measures. continued strong monetary and credit growth in an environment of ample liquidity point to upside risks to price stability over the medium to longer term. monetary developments therefore continue to require very careful monitoring, particularly against the background of improved economic conditions and continued strong property market developments in many parts of the euro area. to sum up, annual inflation rates are projected to hover around 2 % this year and next, with risks to this outlook remaining on the upside. given

so that minority shareholders are better represented on the board. audit committees are now a requirement and many banks now have nomination and compensation committees to reduce the power of the major shareholders. most also have risk management committee or, at least, asset and liability management committee. to further increase transparency, commercial banks now have to announce at the end of each month their npl level, penalties and fines imposed by the authorities, as well as the amount of their related lending. by year - end, we will launch the director's handbook for the financial community and further encouraging increased transparency of appointment and compensations. of course, we cannot change others without changing ourselves at the bank of thailand. our reorganization strategy focuses on four aspects, namely organizational structure and work process, human resource management, decision - making process, and database and information technology. our hierarchical structure has now been reduced from a total of seven layers to four. authorities and responsibilities are being further delegated toward a lower level to the operating officers in charge. this helps reduce the previously lengthy approval process and increase our flexibility. new departments have been established to better cope with the rapidly changing economy and the rising information need of the organization. these include the data management group, the information and public relation group, the planning group who conducts a bank - wide risk assessment as well as a new department of risk management and information technology examination, who monitor risk profile and risk management at the financial institutions. in addition, our business processes are now more client - oriented with a new website, new voice - mail, and new central point of contacts being offered as services to our stakeholders. both the netherlands and thailand are small open economies in the world market. to survive the tide of globalization, we both need a well thought out strategies. we have to choose our battleground and cooperate with friends around the world. to do this, local strength has to be further strengthened while lessons and technologies must be learnt from others. here, international co - operations through jointed ventures, through foreign direct investment, or through international trade will play major roles in our successes. on this front, thailand has done remarkably well, registering a substantial increase in net inflow of foreign direct investment in the four years following the crisis despite the overall net capital outflow due to debt repayment within the banking sector. foreign direct investment ( to the non - bank sector ) increased from an average around 1. 4 billion us dollars during 1992 - 1996 to 3. 4 billion us dollars during 1997 - 2000