*  *  *  The Chairman Eastern Africa Association, Members, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen; Let me first thank the Chairman of the Association for this opportunity to share my experiences with economic performance, the conduct of monetary policy in 2008, and the perspective for 2009.
The experiences of the Central Bank have been vast but I will deal with economic performance and policy directions in three topical areas: •  The Conduct of Monetary Policy and Monetary policy decisions  •  Economic growth outlook  •  The Global Financial crisis and Kenya’s economic performance  A.