Sixty per cent of imports come from the EU. The integration of central and east European countries has been made easier by progress in capital market liberalisation. Positive macroeconomic data and the prospect of EU accession have been leading to large-scale direct investment. Since 1999, direct investment has accounted for around 5% of all accession countries’ GDP.
I have chosen instead to speak on something which is less immediate, but about which I have found there to be a good deal of interest at times, namely the procedural elements of the monthly monetary policy process inside the Reserve Bank.