I hope, in describing two current issues in the policy debate, I have been able to convey something of the Bank’s role in financial stability and the importance of current work in this area. I am encouraged to see how many aspects of financial and monetary stability are included in the programme for this conference. I wish you well with it and the future of the Centre itself and I hope the Centre and the Bank will maintain a close relationship. 9  BIS Review 70/2000
The number of people in employment has recently reached an all-time high in the UK as a whole; and it is very close to its all-time high also here in Scotland. And the number of people claiming unemployment benefit is at a 27-year low both in the UK as a whole and, again, up here north of the border. Meanwhile retail price inflation - on the Government's target measure - has averaged 2.5% over the past 10 years. That is exactly in line with the present inflation target which recognises that consistently low inflation is a necessary - though not in itself a sufficient - condition for sustainable growth. And that of course is the universal central banker's mantra! That's the good news. The bad news, of course, is that over the past two years the imbalance within our overall economy which I referred to when I last spoke to you - between the internationally-exposed sectors including much of manufacturing industry, and more recently some parts of the financial services industry, which have been under intense pressure, and the more domestically-oriented sectors, where I don't say things have been easy but where the pressures have been less severe that imbalance has persisted, and indeed it has got worse. The grim fact is that there is nothing that we in the UK can do directly to address the global economic weakness which has been at the heart of our problem.