*  *  *  Introduction Mr. Chairman, Madam President Mrs. Lorena Best and Past President Mr. Wilton Gale, Mrs. Shirley Clarke, Agents and Financial Advisers, Distinguished Life Underwriters. When last I spoke with you in early 2008, we were only just beginning to see the fallout from the collapse of the US sub-prime market.
While at the time we expected there to be some (limited) effects on demand and financing conditions, our more immediate concern related to the inflationary impact of record-high international commodity prices and oil prices in particular. Since then, however, circumstances have changed dramatically, and for the worse.