Any assessment of the consequences arising from the greater exposure of the Spanish economy to changes in house prices and in interest rates would be incomplete were it not also to allude to the parallel developments reinforcing the economy’s capacity to face potentially adverse shocks in any of these variables. In this respect, it should be underscored that the behaviour seen in recent years in the main indicators of the activity, profitability and solvency of domestic credit institutions is helping mitigate the financial risks bearing on the course of our economy in the medium term. These institutions are therefore well positioned to absorb the potential impact of shocks such as those indicated without seeing their capacity to ensure the financing of economic growth affected. Undoubtedly, the prolongation of the phase of robust demand has contributed to widening the economy's external imbalance, increasing the need to resort to foreign saving to finance private-sector spending. Overall, the external deficit, whether measured by the current account balance or by net borrowing, reached a new all-time high last year. As is known, belonging to a monetary union substantially changes the meaning and consequences of the current account balance. The breaking of the link between the exchange rate and the economy's external imbalance gives greater prominence to how this imbalance is financed. Here, the funds needed to bridge the gap between national investment and saving are being routed essentially via the issuance of securities by banks and, especially, non-bank financial institutions.
Bwalya K E Ng’andu: Workshop on Zambian banknotes Opening remarks by Dr Bwalya K E Ng’andu, Deputy Governor (Operations) of the Bank of Zambia, at the G&D Workshop on Zambian banknotes, Lusaka, 22 November 2011. *  *  *    Mr. Werner Reisch and all resource persons from Giesecke and Devrient GmbH    Acting Director – Banking, Currency and Payment Systems    Ladies and Gentlemen  I wish to welcome you all to this workshop on Zambian banknotes and in particular allow me to welcome Mr. Werner Reisch and his team from Germany. As Bank of Zambia, we appreciate your efforts to organise this workshop and would like to assure you that by the end of the workshop all participants will have been enriched with new information on cash management. I am reliably informed that this workshop will be divided into two sessions, with this session targeting employees from Bank of Zambia and the next session that will take place tomorrow targeting commercial bank employees. Ladies and Gentlemen, As you may be aware G&D is a reputable printing company based in Germany which has been in existence since 1852. The Bank has a long standing business relationship with G&D going as far back as 1996 when the company first installed the ISS 300 money counting machines in our Currency office and subsequently the BDS 400 banknote destruction system in 2000.