When oil prices are taken as those of the year 2000, it can be said that the ratio of current account deficit to national income is 1.2 percentage points lower as of the first quarter of 2006. Meanwhile, it is expected that the depreciation of the Turkish currency due to recent fluctuations in financial markets, monetary policy tightening and the relative decline in domestic demand will slow economic activity and imports to a certain extent as of the second half of the year. As for exports, the upward trend is anticipated to gain momentum in line with increased foreign demand. In this framework, it is expected that the ratio of current account deficit to gross national product will fall in 2006 compared to 2005. The quality of financing is very important for the sustainability of the current account deficit and for preventing the perception that the current account deficit is a risk. The quality of financing in Turkey has improved significantly, especially due to the favorable impact of the structural transformation process and has enhanced the macroeconomic conditions observed in the last five years. Long-term capital is assuming an increasingly important role in the financing of the current account deficit. By June, 82 percent of the current account deficit has been financed with long-term capital alone. Meanwhile, the ratio of short-term capital to current account deficit stands at 29.4 percent. In addition, foreign direct investments peaked well beyond historic levels and reached a record-high level of USD 17.3 billion in annual terms in June 2006.
We have a fintech industry which 2  employs over 60,000 people. This success is not limited to London; centres of excellence exist across the country including Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cambridge (where Sir Dave Ramsden is today chairing a fintech roundtable). Innovation is not the preserve of those in the fintech sector; the banking industry as a whole is making system-wide changes to improve how it serves the people of the UK. The Bank is also no stranger to innovation and in my previous role as Chief Cashier I oversaw the introduction of the new cleaner, safer and stronger five pound and ten pound notes. We decided not to build the renewed RTGS on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), wanting to first see greater proof of resilience and scalability. However, we are keen to facilitate the use of new technologies and we are working to deliver a service that has the capability to interact with DLT systems should demand emerge. The Bank has recently concluded a Proof of Concept (PoC) with a number of fintech firms on this topic. The purpose of this PoC was to (a) understand how RTGS could be capable of supporting settlement in systems operating on innovative payment technologies. (b) To understand the limitations that such systems might need to navigate.