I have organized my talk as follows: (a)  I will briefly discuss about major economic parameters of the southern region.
For the central banks, it is therefore a major concern that payment systems are able to operate properly in the Year 2000. For the organisation of this worldwide test, the Bundesbank assumed a coordinating role for the German banking industry with the New York Clearing House. It initially provided for an exchange of information with the credit institutions taking part in the test.