Third parties like the media and research analysts also have a role to play. They can shine the spotlight on exemplary companies as well as highlight questionable practices. Let me cite two commendable initiatives. •  The National University of Singapore and the Business Times have developed and publish regularly a Governance and Transparency Index, which assesses and ranks companies based on their corporate governance practices and the transparency of their financial results. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  •  The Securities Investors Association (Singapore) will introduce a new corporate governance page on its website to provide investors with more information on the corporate governance practices of the top 100 companies selected through the use of a corporate governance scorecard. 15. It is also encouraging to see an increase in local media coverage of corporate governance issues. But there is one area where I believe the media can do better. Media reports following a company’s AGM tend to focus excessively on the remuneration of the CEO and the directors, with precious little commentary on the company’s performance, business strategies, or risk management. I am not suggesting that remuneration issues are not appropriate areas for scrutiny – they very much are – but we need a more holistic assessment of our companies, and the media plays an important educational role in this regard, especially for retail investors. Building board competencies 16. A second area where we need to go beyond the rules is in raising the competency levels of our Boards.
The task of explaining monetary policy and the risks to Swedish inflation prospects one to two years ahead is an important aspect of our operations and in some ways is a precondition for our ability to attain our objective of maintaining price stability in the Swedish economy. Similarly, we publish regular reports that comment on stability issues in the Swedish financial system so as to ensure a safe and efficient payment system. But sometimes the Riksbank also needs to look beyond the current monetary policy situation or conditions in the country’s banks and comment on issues of a longer-term nature. Here, the Bank may give its views on the labour market, on competition in trade and industry or on the long-term conditions for growth in the Swedish economy. In light of this, the issues relating to the Lisbon agenda are something the Riksbank has been following with great interest. Potential growth plays a key role for monetary policy Long-term potential growth in particular also plays an important role in the Riksbank’s monetary policy assessment. Economic growth essentially depends on two factors - how much we work and how productive we are. Thus, in somewhat simplified terms, we could say that it is efficiency gains and growth in the working population that enables us to increase consumption. This is what we usually refer to as the potential growth rate, that is, the rate at which the economy can generate new economic resources without giving rise to shortages or surpluses.