These values help us to understand what is meant by the phrase ‘serving the general interest’, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi’s lodestar throughout his life. In the last six years the monetary policy response to the financial crisis, the sovereign debt crisis and the risks of deflation have had a profound impact on the size and structure of the Bank of Italy’s balance sheet.
At the outset, let me acknowledge the support of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), one of our worthy partners in formulating and executing the survey. Indeed, AFI has walked with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) over the last thirteen years in Kenya’s financial inclusion transformation journey.