. first, there is an important role for a permanent institution as a provider of internationally consistent information, impartial expert analysis, assessment and advice. today ’ s world economy is no longer dominated by a small group of like - minded industrialised countries at similar stages of development ; tomorrow ’ s will be even less so. a shared knowledge base will facilitate effective consultation and collaboration on complex and politically charged issues. this is essentially a public good. and while it is possible to envisage alternative arrangements for supplying it, a permanent international institution is likely to offer clear practical advantages. second, the fund already exists. it has the reach and experience to respond flexibly to the changing structure of the world economy. it has nearly universal membership, ( now totalling 184 sovereign nations ), an agreed legal framework, extensive relevant institutional capacity and a reputation built up over sixty years. given the costs of acquiring such unique capacity from scratch in the modern world, the benefits of starting again would need to be very substantial indeed. this adds up to a strong pragmatic case for working with what we have. so what role should the fund be playing? mervyn king, in his speech in delhi earlier this year, likened the role of the imf to an umpire in cricket, ‘ warning the players not to attack each other verbally and making it clear publicly when they believe the players are not abiding with the spirit of the game ’. while i would be the last person to argue with mervyn, at least about cricket, i initially found this analogy rather unconvincing. in my mind, the term umpire conjures up a portly old gentleman in a white coat and straw boater. surely the modern imf should have a more dynamic and up to date image? but it turns out that even cricket has moved on. i am not referring to the recent abandonment of the england pakistan match, for the first time ever, after a heated disagreement between an umpire and players. no, what i have in mind is the advanced computer technology which i gather now exists, aptly named hawk - eye, which could assist umpires in making the most difficult calls – those about which the players of the game are most likely to disagree. so we should think of the imf as the cricket umpire of the future, with hawk - eye in her toolkit – where the fund ’ s hawk - eye will be its impartial analysis, assessment and advice, enabling it to di

successful lion city bond issuances worth rmb10. 5 billion to - date, and we will look to promote greater bond issuance activity on a sustained basis. • second, enhance market infrastructure to facilitate growth of rmb activities. in response to market demand, mas has recently introduced rmb overnight liquidity bis central bankers ’ speeches facility to meet end - of - day rmb liquidity needs in the market. we will work with the industry to develop a rmb real time gross settlement ( rtgs ) system to raise the efficiency of rmb payment settlements in singapore. investment gains stable but profits higher due to translation effects 55 finally, i shall touch on mas ’ financial results. 56 mas recorded overall profit of s $ 15. 8 billion for fy2013 / 14. in fy2012 / 13, we recorded a loss of s $ 10. 6 billion. however, focusing on these numbers misses larger point about how mas ’ investments have performed. 57 as i had explained on previous occasions, mas ’ overall profit position is strongly influenced by currency translation effects – these are the effects of converting value of our reserves in foreign currency to singapore dollars ( sgd ). • a weaker sgd means a positive translation effect, i. e. investment gains on our foreign assets are amplified when reported in sgd. • conversely, a stronger sgd means a negative translation effect, i. e. investment gains are smaller or even negative when measured in sgd. but these translation effects have no bearing on the international purchasing power of mas ’ reserves. 58 therefore, it is important to look at the underlying investment gains holding the sgd exchange rate constant to strip out currency translation effects. when we do this, for fy2013 / 14, mas posted foreign investment gains of s $ 10. 6 billion, comparable to investment gains of s $ 9. 4 billion for fy 2012 / 13. 59 for this financial year, we recorded positive translation effects as sgd weakened against the usd, euro and gbp. in the last financial year, we had negative translation effects because the sgd appreciated against these three currencies as well as the jpy. 60 to help make sense of mas ’ underlying investment performance, we have provided a write - up on page 27 of annual report, showing the overall profit position, currency translation effects, and investment gains. 61 as shown in the chart on page 27, mas ’ investment gains have been relatively stable. this reflects