They highlight the extent of the economic shocks that buffeted the economy, and the importance of being forward-looking when setting policy, with flexibility in achieving our targets. The lags between our monetary policy actions and inflation outcomes remain long and highly variable. Other central banks are in the same boat, and we are learning the lessons together.
The objective was to leverage on the prevailing high mobile phone penetration to deliver affordable financial services to the growing financially excluded segment of the population. These regulatory interventions incentivised telecommunication companies to partner banks in the provision of innovative products, culminating in increased uptake of mobile money services.