markets will therefore enable us maintain this critical balance. kenya like other developing economies is quite vulnerable to money laundering and terrorism financing due to a number of displacement factors ; key amongst them being a high volume of cash based transactions, lack of an adequate legal framework and the existence of alternative remittance avenues. i am glad to note that the government of kenya has taken a keen interest on these issues and has, and is continuing to undertake a number of initiatives towards addressing these challenges. the central bank, in addition to the initiatives i have just mentioned, is developing regulations to strengthen the money remittance sector. ladies and gentlemen ; it is my sincere hope that this forum will contribute to a better understanding of the aml / cft issues affecting the country and will generate ideas that will bring the fight against the organized crimes up to international standards. it is now my pleasure to invite the hon. assistant minister, ministry of finance, dr. oburu odinga, to address you and to officially open this forum. thank you all. bis central bankers ’ speeches

were negatively affected by trade tensions between the us and china, as well as uncertain prospects for brexit. in the circumstances, global inflation eased from 3. 6 percent in 2018 to 3. 4 percent in 2019. inflation was subdued in the special drawing rights ( sdr ) countries, increasing slightly from 1. 7 percent in december 2018 to 2 percent in december 2019. in south africa, inflation decreased from 4. 5 percent in december 2018 to 4 percent in december 2019. therefore, average inflation for the trading partner countries was constant at 2. 9 percent in both 2018 and 2019. domestic economic developments in 2019 domestic output expansion is estimated at 3. 7 percent in the twelve months to september 2019, compared to 5 percent in the year to september 2018. the lower increase in output is attributable to, in the main, weaker performance of the mining sector. growth in non - mining gdp also slowed, from 5. 1 percent in the year to september 2018 to 4 percent in the corresponding period ending september 2019. inflation was below the lower bound of the objective range of 3 - 6 percent for most of 2019 ; and the outcome was broadly consistent with earlier projections. average inflation decreased from 3. 2 percent in 2018 to 2. 8 percent in 2019, largely because of base effects. this is because the increase in some administered prices in 2018 was not repeated in 2019. overall, low inflation in botswana was in the context of moderate domestic demand pressures and benign foreign inflation. i hasten to mention that food prices reversed the 0. 4 percent decrease in 2018 to a 3 percent increase in 2019. the subdued pressure on inflation is also apparent from belowtrend economic activity, signified by a negative output gap, as the economy continues to operate below potential. however, government expenditure grew by 15. 4 percent in 2019 compared to an increase of 6. 6 percent in the prior year. within this, personal emoluments rose by 14. 4 percent, following the april 2019 public sector salary increase, and this would have been replicated by other major employers. nevertheless, the impact on inflation was muted. it should be recognised, in this respect, that there is significant externalisation of spending by both government and the private sector, including ready availability of imports, hence moderate impact of increased government expenditure and wages on domestic prices. the other point to highlight is that the short - term impact of government spending on domestic demand is moderated to the extent that a significant component involves infrastructure and