The Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert E. Lucas, Jr., wrote that once one starts thinking about long-run growth and economic development, “it is hard to think about anything else.”1 Although I don’t think I would go quite that far, it is certainly true that relatively small differences in rates of economic growth, maintained over a sustained period, can have enormous implications for material living standards.
However, other countries will continue to pursue reforms and we can’t rest on our laurels. The Bank’s central forecast for economic activity is for growth to gradually pick up over the course of the next couple of years. Monetary policy has been and will continue to play its part in this regard. The depreciation of the exchange rate seen to date is helpful.