Against the background of this experience, I should like to single out in this lecture some aspects of the common monetary policy of the Eurosystem which, as it seems to me, are of particular interest to those nations which are preparing for participation in the future.
However, our responsibility for managing these reserves has impacted significantly on the profitability of the Bank. The financial statements presented to you today show that the Bank has recorded a loss for the third consecutive year. For the 2012/13 financial year, a loss of R1,5 billion was recorded, compared with R491 million in the previous financial year.