Second, I would have liked to have done more to harmonise financial reporting standards; I’m sad to say that the IFRS and US GAAP today are further apart than they were in 2010. Third, there is the matter of the regulatory treatment of government bonds – an international accord on this topic has now become a rather distant prospect, much to my regret.
A decline in interest rates has given businessmen some reason for optimism in the prospects for recovery. Lower interest rates also provided an opportunity for the corporate sector to restructure its financial condition. In the face of limited bank financing, these conditions have provided wider room for reputable corporations to find alternative financing through bond issuance, both domestic and abroad.