And it is founded on the belief that we can have a far greater impact by coming together, than we could acting alone. This is embodied in the National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2019 – 2023 which is a product of FEN. The National Strategy is centred around five Strategic Priorities that serve to anchor initiatives by FEN members to enhance the financial capability of Malaysians, thereby encouraging alignment and creating synergies. So what are these Strategic Priorities? First, nurturing values from young; Second, increasing access to financial management information, tools and resources; Third, inculcating positive behaviour among targeted groups, including the youth, selfemployed and those entering the workforce; Fourth, boosting long term financial and retirement planning; and Fifth, building and safeguarding wealth. Since the launch of the National Strategy in July 2019, FEN members and partners, working in collaboration with the government, business community and education sectors have undertaken over 400 education programmes and initiatives, covering a wide and diverse spectrum of the public that saw more than 47 million interactions with FEN’s various outreach programmes. A key achievement by FEN members working collaboratively has been the integration of financial education elements into all levels of the formal school curriculum, from pre-school right up to upper secondary levels. Financial education modules have also been introduced as electives in college programmes.
These new measures led to an average annual growth of 7.5% over the four years, 2010 to 2013 and thus, the vicious cycle was converted into a new virtuous cycle, with inflation in single digits, shrinking debt to GDP ratios, and low interest rates. In 2009, Sri Lanka also faced another major challenge: the threat to its external account. The effect of Global Financial Crisis had impacted Sri Lanka, and large scale overseas bond redemptions had resulted. It was soon clear that some external support was required to stave off this challenge, and Sri Lanka decided to avail itself of the IMF facilities via a stand-by arrangement (SBA). The key  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  objective of the SBA was for Sri Lanka to build up its foreign reserves to more comfortable levels to meet the uncertain global environment. The issue however was that the IMF, in its conventional wisdom, was insisting that Sri Lanka sharply depreciates its currency in order to curb its trade and current account deficits which, in their view, would help the country to build up reserves. The IMF also held the view that Sri Lanka must significantly increase government revenue by raising taxes. In theory and normal circumstances, IMF’s suggestions may have had merit. However, the Sri Lankan authorities who had a deep practical understanding of the socio-economic challenges facing Sri Lanka, held a different view.