In spite of the differences between the Nordic countries, our central banks cooperate closely with each other. The central bank governors meet regularly for discussions, and once a year there is a big meeting between the central banks' Executive Boards and a number of experts, depending on the themes that are up for discussion. Together with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania the Nordic countries are jointly represented in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. This has partly resulted in close cooperation between the countries' respective central banks on all issues related to the IMF. Furthermore, a memorandum of understanding was recently signed by the Nordic central banks regarding the management of financial crises. There is also a continuous exchange of expertise between the Nordic central banks. The Riksbank expects moderate inflation The Riksbank's monetary policy remit is to adjust interest rates with a view to influencing price developments so that inflation is 2 per cent one to two years ahead. As a basis for our decisions, we carry out regular forecasts of inflation and economic activity in Sweden. Thus, at our monetary policy meetings, we in the Executive Board must decide whether inflation is forecast to be above target,  BIS Review 46/2003  1  which usually implies raising the repo rate, or whether it will be below target, thereby resulting in a repo rate cut.
Zamani Abdul Ghani: Riding out of the global financial crisis – banking reforms and revival Closing remarks by Mr Zamani Abdul Ghani, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the 13th Malaysian Banking Summit 2009 "Riding Out of the Global Financial Crisis – Banking Reforms & Revival", Kuala Lumpur, 12 May 2009. *  *  *  On behalf of Bank Negara Malaysia , I would like to thank ASLI for the opportunity to make the closing address for the 13 th Malaysian Banking Summit. Indeed the theme chosen is highly appropriate and timely as we are currently facing a period that is most challenging. The current global economic slowdown, as many are aware, has been compared to the Great Depression of the late 1920s. It began with the stock market crash in October 1929, otherwise known as “Black Tuesday”. As to whether the current global slowdown reach such proportions, it remains anyone's guess. But as events unfold and with lessons of hindsight gaining clarity, we have seen how institutions failed to fully understand or underestimated the complexity of products, and were unable to adequately measure tail risks as well, the procyclical impact of fair value accounting. While these may have merits in sharing the blame, others like the high levels of risk concentration and gearing together with the failure to manage maturity mismatches, are also equally apparent, if not fundamental, in contributing to the financial crisis. Comforting, however, is that none of our Malaysian institutions undertook complex derivative transactions.