Maiava Atalina Ainuu Enari: Educating individuals to manage their personal finances Opening remarks by Ms Maiava Atalina Ainuu Enari, Governor of the Central Bank of Samoa, at the MoneyPACIFIC “Money Guide” launch, Apia, 2 April 2014. *  *  *  Members of the Diplomatic Community Youth and Education Directors of the Church denominations present today Our MoneyPACIFIC partners – Kim Hailwood and Becky de Beer-Lamont Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen It is indeed an honour for me to address this gathering today, at this important milestone in the partnership of the MoneyPACIFIC project and the Central Bank of Samoa. The MoneyPACIFIC Project was established in 2007 under the umbrella of the NZ-Pacific Remittances’ Project which stands to help reduce costs of sending money within the Pacific Region, and has concurrently worked hard to lift Pacific Communities awareness of the need to prudently manage their personal finances. We have worked closely with the MoneyPACIFIC programme over the recent years and we consider them a great ally in the promotion of financial inclusion and financial literacy here in Samoa. In a moment Kim and Becky will elaborate more on the MoneyPACIFIC initiative and its latest resource but before that I would like to take a few moments to talk a little bit more on why financial literacy is important to the Central Bank of Samoa.
It will be equally  2  BIS Review 110/2007  important, in both the private and public sectors, for wage growth to be compatible with productivity growth, labour market conditions and cost developments in competitor countries. The further strengthening of competition in both product and resource markets and the creation of more incentives to work are also necessary in order to raise the participation rate. It also needs to be realized that these reforms are essential for safeguarding our social model. In recent decades we have been successful in reducing income inequality and in securing universal access to all levels of education, to health care and to pensions. These benefits, however, can only continue to be enjoyed by future generations if today’s generation implements the necessary reforms. The next phase in Malta’s economic history, therefore, promises to be a challenging one, but it should also be an exciting time. For a country with a population of 400,000 and a GDP of just four-and-a-half billion euro, having a major reserve unit as its domestic currency is indeed a significant advantage. We thus have good reason to feel encouraged and, as a people that has suffered repeatedly as a consequence of divisions on the European mainland, also reassured that we are about to reinforce our integration in Europe with full economic and monetary union.