This workshop is one of a number of ongoing initiatives to promote the deepening and diversification of financial markets, under the auspices of the Five Year Financial Markets Development Plan. In addition, there is an active work programme within the East African Community to promote the regional integration of capital markets.
Lending to companies grew by 1.9% year-o-year, while household lending grew by 1.8%. 10 / 15  BIS central bankers' speeches  A significant improvement has also been observed in Eurosystem banks’ composite cost of debt financing, which declined in July to a new historical low, after broadly stabilising in the second quarter of 2016 (see Figure 15).