At its inception, the Bank started with 57 people with four departments. The Bank has grown in strength to more than 2,600 staff to accommodate our expanded roles. The modernisation of the Bank has involved change to the legal framework, our organisational and governance structure, and the nature of human capital, to enable the Bank to become more effective in the changed environment. As we advance forward into the future, the Bank will be confronted with increased challenges, and with many of the building blocks in place, the next phase of development of the Malaysia's financial sector will involve greater market liberalisation and internationalisation. These developments will intensify the demand for greater readiness, capacity and capability from the Bank to best serve the nation moving forward. This year, the Bank is in the process of submitting to Parliament a new Central Banking Act. As the economic and financial landscape, both domestic and international, is now significantly different from 50 years ago, the proposed Act involves a holistic review of the Bank's mandate, governance, accountability and the present legislative framework to ensure that the Bank remains effective in performing its functions. The institutionalisation of the objectives and mandates of the Bank aims to provide greater clarity to the existing roles and functions of the Bank. The proposed Act will also provide the Bank with the necessary powers and instruments to perform the Bank's roles and functions effectively.
For example, the scenarios considered by the UN Population Projections, built upon different assumptions on fertility, mortality and migration, suggest that the dependency ratio in Europe could range between 43% and 52% in 2050 and between 35% and 61% in 2070, versus today’s ratio of 29%. In sum, the uncertainty over these demographic projections is sizable, and the more distant the horizon, the greater this uncertainty is. Yet acknowledging our limited ability to produce precise forecasts about the future should not lead us to trust in the more benign scenarios eventually materialising. In fact, in the realm of demographic projections uncertainty travels in both directions. While some scenarios point to more moderate population ageing, for instance as a result of higher fertility, others suggest that the dependency ratio could be substantially higher than projected in the baseline. In fact, in countries such as Spain and the United Kingdom, it has not been uncommon to under-predict life expectancy in successive projection rounds. Against this background of demographic change, it is worth examining the multiple effects that an ageing population may exert on the macroeconomy, including the macroeconomic policies that governments and policy-makers implement as a result. 5  Macroeconomic implications  Demographic changes come with wide and profound economic consequences. Most relevant for macroeconomic policies are, at least, three such consequences. One is the implication of a smaller and older working-age population for potential growth and inflation.