harvesh seegolam : current economic conditions and outlook statement by mr harvesh seegolam, governor of the bank of mauritius, at the post - mpc press conference, port louis, 8 july 2020. * * * 1. representatives of the media, good afternoon. 2. as you know, the monetary policy committee met today. my two deputies and myself are pleased to welcome you to this post - mpc press conference. 3. before i move on to the mpc deliberations, on behalf of the bank of mauritius and the mpc members, i would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the frontliners and employees in essential services who went beyond their call of duty during the confinement. 4. i equally commend banks for having ensured continuity of services. 5. as i stated at the last post - mpc press conference on 10 march 2020, the mpc remains vigilant and will continue to monitor risks to our economy. in this respect, a special mpc meeting was convened on 16 april 2020. swift policy actions were accordingly taken. 6. today the mpc deliberated on the current economic conditions and outlook. i have to say that the elevated level of uncertainty makes it exceedingly challenging to say how economies will fare in the near future. 7. let me now share with you the mpc ’ s assessments. international economic developments 8. i will start with the global economic conditions. 9. the covid - 19 pandemic has triggered a very deep global recession. in the words of the managing director of the imf, this crisis “ is more severe, more complex, and more global than anything we have seen in living memory. ” 1 10. the imposition of lockdown across many countries brutally and briskly impacted production, consumption, investment and trade. economic data for the first quarter of 2020 reveal substantial output contractions in most of our main exports markets. 11. output contractions will definitely be more severe and widespread during second quarter of 2020. the uk economy is projected by the bank of england to shrink by 25 per cent, on a year - on - year basis. the european central bank has projected a contraction of 13 per cent for the euro area. the us federal reserve bank of new york has estimated the us economy to contract by 15 per cent. 12. conventional as well as unconventional fiscal, monetary and financial policy measures were rapidly implemented across the world to contain the economic consequences of

roots of which were found at the level of boards of directors. members of the boards of directors obscenely took advantage of their positions to influence imprudent credit decisions making. the bank of mauritius issued 9 guidelines to the banking industry so far. two more guidelines have been issued to the industry for consultations. the guidelines on corporate governance, effective june 2001, and on related party transactions, effective january 2002, put the roles and responsibilities of boards of directors of banks in the right perspective. the guidelines, as i said in my address to the private sector in november last, are not obituaries but principles that should be adhered to by the boards of directors of all banks, including the board of directors of the bank of mauritius. the quiet and sybaritic lives of board members are over. the banking supervision department of the bank of mauritius is already assisting the staff of the new co - operative bank ltd to come to grips with all the guidelines. i urge all the co - operative entities to familiarise themselves with the guidelines in order to understand and fully appreciate the new regulatory environment in which the new co - operative bank ltd is expected to operate. may i wish the new co - operative bank ltd the very best of success. thank you.