And in a symbolic sense, I would be happy to have the Bank move into Wim T. Schippers’ palace of crystal: the glass would exemplify the transparency which must characterise a central bank. This is especially true of its monetary policy, for which our Bank, together with the other central banks in the euro area, bears a common responsibility.
I am glad to say that we have seen some encouraging signs recently of stability in our level of foreign reserves. Due to this improvement, the Reserve Bank yesterday announced relaxation on the payment of credit cards for expenditure abroad from $ to $ per month for overseas transactions. In addition, cash drawings from credit cards were increased from $ to $ per month.