I bid you all a very warm welcome to the 2012 Bank of Korea International Conference. In particular, I would like to express my gratitude to Professors Thomas Sargent, Barry Eichengreen, and Yung Chul Park, Dr. Jonathan Ostry, and all of our speakers and participants for their invaluable contributions to this conference. My special thanks go as well to the IMF, our conference co-host.
The deterioration in international economic conditions was so rapid that no policy response could prevent a period of near-term weakness in the Australian economy. We are being affected by the global downturn, and cannot realistically expect other than weak conditions in the first part of 2009.