I would also give thanks to all of our members for their hard work in tackling the difficulties arising from the global financial crisis. In the wake of Lehman Brothers' filing for bankruptcy protection in September last year, the financial markets and real economic conditions worsened significantly. Recently, however, the economy has been showing signs of improvement.
In the first half of 2008, outstanding deposits of financial institutions stood at RMB 45.0 trillion yuan, an increase of 17.8 percent year-on-year; outstanding loans of financial institutions registered RMB 30.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 15.2 percent year-on-year. The exchange rate of RMB displayed an overall appreciating trend.