Mr Bäckström discusses the prospects for the Swedish economy on the threshold of the new millennium  Speech given by Mr Urban Bäckström, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank and Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of the Bank for International Settlements, at the Umeå School of Economics and Business Administration on 3 December 1999. *  *  *  First a word of thanks for the invitation to Umeå to discuss the prospects for the Swedish economy on the threshold of the new millennium. In an economic perspective, the last century of this millennium appears to be unique. The dramatic improvement in prosperity and living standards that has taken place during the 20th century is unparalleled in the history of our country. As recently as the 19th century, Sweden was poor, perhaps even one of the poorest European countries. History teaches us that material prosperity can never be taken for granted. Countries and areas can suddenly rise up and become culturally and materially prominent only to subsequently fall back again into poverty. There are examples of this in the present millennium as well as in those preceeding it. Economic growth is not just a matter of the usual economic aspects, i.e. accumulation of real capital and population increase. There are cases where countries with a high rate of capital investment and relatively high population growth have failed to transform this into rapidly increasing material prosperity. The former planned economies are clear examples of this. Something more is evidently required.
This support has taken various forms, including the following:   Salary supplementation to fifteen (15) academic staff in the Department of Economics at UNZA and nineteen (19) academic staff in the School of Business at the Copperbelt University (CBU);    Full sponsorship of five undergraduate students at third and fourth year level at CBU and five students at Masters Degree level at UNZA;    Financial support in the acquisition of books and periodicals;    Purchase of equipment such as computers and computer software. The Bank of Zambia acknowledges the various efforts being made by the University to improve its infrastructure and the delivery of quality university education and research. We are also mindful of the various funding constraints faced by the University as it expands its programmes to meet the ever increasing demand for its services. The Bank is therefore, proud to respond to the University’s call for partnership with industry and other stakeholders in order to realise its noble objectives that cannot presently be fully funded from public resources and students fees. In this regard, the Bank of Zambia has seen it fit to not only extend this support, but to also streamline and enhance it in order to better align this support with strategic objectives of both the Bank and the University. Ladies and Gentlemen; as you are aware, the Bank of Zambia has been providing financial support for the purpose of promoting scholarly and academic excellence in research and instruction at the University of Zambia.