The addresses are purported to enhance transparency in the Bank’s policy decision-making. The theme for my address this evening is: A perspective of our monetary policy objective and the evolution of its operational framework since 1994 when our Exchange Control Act was suspended. Let me start with a remark - a remark that is generally valid.
How is it that the Asian story has been so different to that of the North Atlantic? The first important factor was that Asia did not have a banking crisis. In fact, most countries in the world didn’t have one. The extraordinary events of September and October 2008 put immense pressure on markets, and banks everywhere inevitably felt the effect of that.