25  By the long-run sustainable rate of unemployment, also known as the long-run equilibrium rate of unemployment, I refer to the rate of unemployment in steady state, where the economy is in a state of what is known as balanced growth, the effect of all shocks has waned and expectations are fulfilled. This should not be confused with other more short-run equilibrium concepts. According to Rogerson (1997), this is the only equilibrium concept for unemployment that is well-defined. The Ministry of Finance’s (2011) assessment from April 2011 entails a long-run sustainable rate of unemployment of 5 per cent. The National Institute of Economic Research’s (2011) assessment from December 2011 entails a long-run sustainable rate of unemployment of 5.8 per cent. The Riksbank's (2012b) assessment from July 2012 lies in an interval with a midpoint of 6.25 per cent. My own assessment is that the Riksbank’s midpoint is an overestimate of around 0.75 percentage points and that long-run sustainable rate of unemployment is thus around 5.5 per cent (Sveriges Riksbank 2012a, appendix). 26  In Svensson (2011b) I note that the forecasts for inflation and unemployment looked similar for Sweden and the United States in summer 2010 and that in this situation the Federal Reserve held its policy rate close to zero and began to prepare QE2, the second round of its quantitative easing, while the Riksbank began to raise its policy rate. 12  BIS central bankers’ speeches  How high is the cost of the current policy?
As we advance forward, the reputation, image and stature of the Centre will depend on the performance of its participants and their contributions to the environment and the organisations they represent. ICLIF regards its alumni members as important and looks forward to your continuous support to building ICLIF into a regional centre of excellence for leadership development in financial services. While ICLIF has put in great efforts in working with leading international consultants and the best schools in the design and delivery of its leadership development programmes, we see this as an evolving process. In this context, we see alumni members as an important sounding board in providing feedback to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of ICLIF’s programmes. As beneficiaries of  BIS Review 72/2004  1  ICLIF’s programmes, the alumni members are the best intermediaries in making ICLIF better known to the industry. Ladies and Gentlemen, ICLIF Leadership Competency Model One of the first initiatives by ICLIF upon its inception is to develop a unique leadership competency model that will analyse and enhance the understanding of what makes for great corporate leaders in the regional context. The Competency Model was developed through a participatory process involving strategic insights by industry leaders in the country and the region. This was achieved through behavioural-event interviews as well as benchmarking exercises based on literature research and the database of leadership competency models of world class companies.