Given the situation, prices as a whole are expected to follow a moderate downtrend for the time being. II. Financial Developments  Financial markets were unstable toward the end of March 2002, reflecting market participants' nervousness due to growing concern about the stability of the financial system in the period immediately before the removal of blanket deposit insurance.
A sound global capital adequacy framework is critical to ensure the robustness and resilience of these firms. It is on this third dimension that Basel II plays an important role and on which I will focus my remarks. Basel II – general We are witnessing a rapidly changing financial environment, which in some cases represents a sea change from traditional practices.