to set the stage for our emergence as an international financial center. in trinidad and tobago, the government and the central bank have made a series of critical interventions, during the second stage, to spur capital market development along marketbased lines. for example, in 2004 the mechanism for primary market issuance evolved from an “ underwriting ” system, which helped minimise placement risk and ensured allocation, to an auction mechanism, which served to increase transparency, stimulate competition and improve the process of price determination. in the context of this auction mechanism, the bank designated a number of financial institutions as government securities intermediaries ( gsis ), licensed to participate in government bond auctions either on their own account or on behalf of the public. to facilitate clearance and settlement of purchases through the auction system, the electronic government securities system ( gss ) originally established for treasury bills and treasury notes, was expanded to accommodate government bonds. the gss incorporates both an on - line auction system and an integrated securities depository. the gss is currently integrated into the real time gross settlement system ( the rtgs ) to facilitate the settlement of government securities transactions and simultaneous recording of the ownership of securities in the depository. ladies and gentlemen these various interventions ; the auction system, the gsis, the on - line system and the central depository system, all set the stage for the introduction of the secondary market for government securities, which we are pleased to launch today. how does the primary market differ from the secondary market for government securities? simply put, the primary market for a security is the place where an issuer creates the security and sells it into the market ; it involves the creation of new securities with the government as seller. the secondary market covers trading of securities after issuance and before redemption. it is our conviction that the secondary market can offer tremendous benefits to the economy of trinidad and tobago. it will firstly foster further capital market development and facilitate the achievement of the various objectives listed above and secondly, the secondary market could bring significant benefits to investors. what are the systemic benefits of a secondary market in government securities : • first, market trading provides a mechanism for government securities to move from investors in the primary market to a wider range of end - investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and retail investors. • second, by providing opportunities for more frequent trading, the secondary market improves the pricing process for government securities. • third, the development of a well - functioning secondary market in government securities may also act

6 bis - central bankers'speeches and finally there are structural policies. it is not only country specific shocks which present an issue, but also common shocks with diverging effects due to the structural heterogeneity within the eurozone. going forward it will be crucial that the eu works towards structural convergence, which will limit the divergent amplification and transmission of common shocks across the eurozone. let me stress again, that in joining the monetary union a country does give up a certain degree of sovereignty, but that central banks still maintain important tools which can be deployed to smooth idiosyncratic shocks. in our opinion, and in our experience, the benefits of a single currency far outweigh the costs. finally, let me briefly touch upon our current monetary policy, which croatia will soon be part of. just after our adoption of the euro, the economic and financial crisis hit economies around the world, and soon after the sovereign debt crisis also hit europe. in that situation i am convinced that slovenia was better off being part of the broader monetary area that if it were trying to deal with these issues alone. as you might remember, at that time a " new era " of monetary policy started. central banks around the world did not hesitate to expand their balance sheets. the first wave of this was after the economic and financial crisis, and the second was more recently, during the pandemic. as a result, the eurosystem's balance sheet peaked at a previously unimaginable eur 8. 8 trillion at the end of june 2022, and has declined very gradually since. it currently represents a 66 % share of gdp. assets purchased for monetary policy purposes represent around 55 % of total eurosystem assets, while lending operations around 25 % of total assets. if we in the eurozone have been battling too low inflation over the last decade, the issue of high, or even too high inflation emerged at the end of last year, and of course things have only worsened in this regard due to geopolitical tensions in ukraine. with inflation at multi - decade highs in many countries and with risks to the inflation outlook tilted to the upside, several central banks, including the ecb, have started with the tightening cycle of their monetary policy, in terms of both frequency and magnitude of rate hikes. some central banks have also begun to reduce the size of their balance sheets, moving further toward normalisation of policy. monetary policy normalisation means a gradual withdrawal