Internationally, a lot of this is being co-ordinated by the Financial Stability Forum. Usually it is being pursued in the interests of investor protection and of ensuring the integrity of markets. But from my perspective, I see these reforms as serving the equally important macro-economic purpose of reducing the tendency for asset price booms to occur, or shortening somewhat their duration.
I will turn now to some shortterm macroeconomic issues that come within the scope of the responsibility of the central bank. The main goal of the Bank of Israel, under the Bank of Israel Law passed by the Knesset this year, is the preservation of price stability, i.e., to keep inflation down to between 1 percent and 3 percent a year.