; it also explains why the subsequent crisis turned into an international financial market event and then into a global economic crisis! a quick back - of - the - envelope calculation comes up with a figure for lost flow income of at least 10 % of world gdp. we have escaped a new great depression, but in the end worldwide income losses have probably exceeded the income losses associated with the great depression. since the last money market event a year ago, the international financial system has emerged from the brink of collapse, financial conditions have improved on a broad front and a hesitant economic recovery has been initiated. by and large, the trough on the financial front was reached in q1 2009 while the economic low point was probably attained one or two quarters later. exceptional fiscal and monetary policy measures contributed without doubt to these developments. representative charts for last year show a strong recovery in equity markets, a return to calmer money markets, a decrease in credit spreads, and a return to source : fed flow of funds statistics, datastream. source : bloomberg. more activity in corporate bond issuances. noteworthy is the fact that, in contrast to developments in other countries, there was no credit crunch in switzerland. in our country, as elsewhere, a very expansionary monetary policy has been a key element of the response to the crisis. from october 2008 to march 2009, the snb carried out a massive reduction in the libor target range, pursuing a de facto zero interest rate policy. as of march 2009, the snb adopted measures termed “ unconventional ” in order to loosen the monetary reins further when there was no more room for interest rate reduction. these measures took three main distinct forms : longer - term repo transactions, purchases of bonds issued by domestic borrowers, and purchases of foreign currencies. today, viewed from an international perspective, the swiss economy is in a relatively favourable position. gdp has been growing for two consecutive quarters. inflation is back in positive territory but without excessive upward pressure. fears of deflation, which constituted one of the major risks of the past year, have not yet disappeared but are receding. employment is no longer falling and unemployment may be stabilising. the swiss export sector was strongly hit by the crisis and is still fragile. economic activity has been sustained by domestic consumption ( both private and public ) and by construction activity. last year ’ s gdp growth, at – 1. 5 %, constituted the worst performance for the swiss economy since 1975. yet this figure is considerably

say that deposit insurance systems constitute an important element of the financial safety net having the twin objectives of protecting the interest of small depositors and promoting financial stability. adequate funding of deposit insurance systems is crucial to achieving these objectives. indeed, the theme of the conference is apt and the agenda for discussion has been drawn - up very thoughtfully – my compliments to the organisers and best wishes for success of the conference. thank you. thailand ( up to 10. 08. 2011 ), hong kong, malaysia, singapore & taiwan ( all up to 31. 12. 2010 ).