•  Limited capacity of trained personnel, logistics and finance to combat Money Laundering, among others. The Anti-Money Laundering Act was passed in June 2005 and this appoints the Governor as the Anti-Money Laundering Authority. This Act was passed mainly as a preventive measure against Money Laundering and to provide for a sound financial system. To discharge the responsibilities of the Authority, the Bank of Sierra Leone must establish a FIU to analyse and process reports relating to suspicious transactions from Financial Institutions. A committee of stakeholders in the  BIS Review 79/2006  1  implementation of the Act was established and is chaired by the Governor of the Central Bank. This committee comprises, the Ministry of Finance, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Ministry of Mineral Resources, the Ombudsman, National Revenue Authority (NRA), Inspector General of Police (IGP), Criminal Intelligence and Security Unit (CISU), National Drug and Control Agency NDCA), Anti-Corruption Commission, and The Association of Commercial Banks. Since the establishment of this committee several positive measures have been taken in the implementation of the Act: currency declaration forms for passengers travelling to and from Sierra Leone will now be administered by the National Revenue Authority (NRA). Financial Institutions are also implementing Customer Due Diligence and Know Your Customer principles. Technical assistance was sought from the UNODC by the Bank of Sierra Leone for the establishment of the FIU.
But monetary policy cannot solve deeper structural problems or lift growth potential of the economy. That needs to come from real progresses that increase productivity and relax supply-side constraints. Sure, demand stimulating can buy time by cushioning the economy from short-term economic shocks. But this may possibly delay necessary adjustments of the economy to longer-term challenges. For example, keeping interest rate too low for too long and keeping exchange rate undervalued, beside encouraging risk taking and storing up financial instability problems for the future, may also temper incentives for businesses to improve efficiencies, and may slow the reallocation of capital and labor to more productive uses. In the context of Thailand, one of the most important structural issues facing the Thai economy at the moment is that of the labor shortage. Through our business contact and recent surveys, the labor shortage has scored one of the top concerns by both domestic and foreign businesses operating in Thailand. Underlying causes of labor shortage include the demographic change and education and skill mismatch. Clearly, there is little monetary policy can do to solve this supply bottleneck. It can help foster macroeconomic stability conducive to business investment, but most of the efforts to address supply-side impediments still need to come from a broader and more balanced set of economic policies including fiscal, industrial, technology, and labor market policies.