But even if the Governing Council does object, it cannot change the decision, but has to send it back to the Supervisory Board, which can either change the decision or call upon a mediation panel to resolve the difference of opinion. I can see that countries which join the banking union from outside the euro area might have some concerns. While they would have their seat on the Supervisory Board, they would not have a seat in the Governing Council. So, would they lose control over decisions that might directly affect their banks? Well, that would certainly not be in the spirit of the banking union. There are thus safeguards to avoid just that. Let me give you an example. If the Supervisory Board drafts a decision which affects a member from outside the euro area, and if that member disagrees with the decision, it can formally state its objection. Thus, the Governing Council is made aware that there are diverging views and has to take them fully into account. Now, what if the Governing Council objects to a draft decision, and the affected country does not agree with the objection? In such a case it could, for instance, call upon the mediation panel to resolve the issue. What I want to say is this: if a country from outside the euro area were to join the banking union, its voice would be heard at all stages of the decision-making process.
As you may be aware, Zambia has in the recent past recorded macroeconomic stability and growth in the economy, reflected in low and falling inflation, relative stability in the Kwacha exchange rate, falling lending rates and positive real GDP growth rates underpinned by strong private sector investment in all growth or priority sectors. Further, the financial sector has been stable, and continues to post growth. In 2006, the performance of the Zambian economy continued to be encouraging as it registered a positive growth of 6.2% in real GDP, marking the eighth consecutive year of positive real growth. You will note that over the period 2001-2006 growth in real national output averaged 5.0% per annum and was above the average population growth over the  BIS Review 113/2007  1  same period, while inflation declined to 8.2% in December 2006 from 15.9% in December 2005. Distinguished journalists, it is worth-mentioning that the growth, which has been broad-based has extended beyond the recovery of the mining sector and shown resilience to adverse shocks, such as droughts and record increases in oil prices, Agriculture, construction, transport and communications, and tourism sectors have been the other key contributors to the sustained increase in economic activity. A lot of progress continue to be made on the inflation front, as shown in September 2007, when inflation declined to 9.3% despite having risen to 12.7% in March.