PE/VC assets under management have risen by a compounded annual growth rate of 22% over the last five years, to reach nearly $ trillion in 20182. Within the Asia-Pacific, ASEAN is emerging as a hotbed of PE and VC deal flow. 2017 PE and VC investments into ASEAN was $ billion, almost three times the deal flow in 20163 . Bain & Company estimates at least $ billion of PE and VC deals and more than ten unicorns emerging over the next five years in Southeast Asia. The optimism is not unfounded. There is an explosion of entrepreneurial energy across ASEAN. 2/7  BIS central bankers' speeches  The region has seen the rapid rise of well capitalized, innovative businesses such as Grab, Go-Jek, and Tokopedia. With a growing middle class and widespread urbanisation, the consumer, technology, and health care related sectors are expected to grow rapidly in ASEAN. Growth companies in these areas are scaling up and internationalising, which requires raising new capital – with a growing volume coming from private markets. Singapore is a natural gateway to private market opportunities in Asia. Singapore has a diverse ecosystem of 240 global and regional PE and VC managers. They managed $ billion of assets as of 2018, up 15% from the year before. Entrepreneurs from across Asia are coming to Singapore to raise capital for their expansion. Singapore itself has become a thriving launch pad for tech start-ups, and is a natural hunting ground for the next unicorn.
As we said in our press release in September, an early move in interest rates “could lower the level at which interest rates might otherwise need to be set”. That is why we raised interest rates last month and why the MPC is committed to the consistent pursuit of a symmetric inflation target. But that is not all. The new monetary policy regime is probably the most transparent and open in the world. We are committed to explaining our policy – both to improve the efficiency of monetary policy itself and also to build up support for what we are doing. Try going onto the Bank of England’s website – the address is www.bankofengland.co.uk – and you will find there the minutes of our meetings, as well as the Inflation Report, available to everyone. You will even find a copy of this speech. You may not always agree with our decisions, but I do hope you will understand the reasons for them. Since the MPC was set up, there is, I think, a better understanding of what we are trying to achieve. Most of those who disagree with particular interest rate decisions accept that it does make sense to have an inflation target. Some might wish that we interpret the inflation target in a way that better serves the interest of their own sector of the economy, but that would be to court popularity in the short term at the expense of achieving low and stable inflation in the long term.