market provide benchmarks for the system as a whole. it is important to extend the yield curve, while encouraging public issues by corporates on the market. as government and the private sector bond and equity markets develop, ladies and gentlemen, they would facilitate the development of new products and in particular, facilitate the intermediation of funds more competitively and contribute to a culture of long term savings as an objective envisaged by the long term savings act. as a commitment to the development of the domestic capital market, the bank of ghana introduced the central securities depository ( csd ) system, which became operational in 2005. the depository has seen increasingly large volumes of activity in terms of transactions in equity. the system has curtailed unnecessary delays in settlement, and it minimizes fraud. this is expected to greatly enhance the automation of the trading system of the exchange. ladies and gentlemen, what we are seeking to develop is a capital market that will enable businesses to tap long term savings and investible funds. i am particularly happy that gradually corporates are increasingly moving in this direction and what we are witnessing today is a good example. it is important for the ghana stock exchange in collaboration with the sec to encourage market participants with diverse characteristics in terms of transaction needs, risk profiles and investment horizons, to a greater boost to the market. the long term savings act and the pending pension reform are bound to result in an increase in demand for long term debt securities. it is very important that we prepare ourselves through education to demystify the processes involved in listing and investing on the exchange and highlight its value as an avenue for raising medium to long term capital as well as making capital gains. distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen, let me close by noting that it is important we all play our part in developing a deep and efficient market, which would help to channel domestic and international capital for investment in this economy. on this note, mr. chairman, let me once again congratulate the management and staff of ecobank for the successful listing on the exchange and wish them well as they contribute towards the development of the capital market in ghana. thank you very much for your audience.

millison narh : macroeconomic management and regional integration keynote address by mr millison narh, deputy governor of the bank of ghana, at the west african institute for financial and economic management ( waifem ) regional course on macroeconomic management and regional integration, accra, 8 – 19 march 2010. * * * director general of waifem, prof. akpan h. ekpo, course facilitators and participants, distinguished invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the governor, mr. kwesi amissah - arthur, let me welcome you all to this opening ceremony of the regional course on macroeconomic management and regional integration. i am pleased to welcome you all to accra, especially those visiting us for the first time ; please feel at home and do take some time off your otherwise busy work schedule to visit some of our historical landmarks as well as tourist attractions, and to get a taste of the well - known ghanaian hospitality. i also wish to thank waifem for organizing this course, and indeed for generally sustaining such efforts in line with its principal objective of building capacity for debt, macroeconomic and financial sector management in its constituent countries. i thank you for inviting me to deliver the keynote address and to chair the opening ceremony. from a cursory glance at your work program, it is clear to me that the course is rather integrated, as it covers topics ranging from research methods to the basics of macroeconomics, advanced macroeconomics, econometrics and regional integration issues. i am certain that an excellent faculty has been put at your disposal to facilitate the respective topics, and i am sure that your participation in the course shall indeed be beneficial. ladies and gentlemen, the theme for this course, “ macroeconomic management and economic integration ”, could not have been better chosen. the recent global financial crisis has re - emphasised the need for more efficient macroeconomic management and the promotion of economic integration among our economies. as you will recall, the impacts of the recent global financial crisis on fragile economies such as ours, have ranged from falling exports, a drop in remittances, reduced access to trade finance, lower levels of foreign direct investment, and potential reductions in further foreign aid flows. among the coping strategies that have been suggested at different fora is to boost domestic resources as foreign financing from export revenues to development assistance continues to dry up. another recommendation is to accelerate economic integration among our economies so as to limit the