Christian Noyer: Monetary policy, the French economy and its outlook Introductory letter by Mr Christian Noyer, Governor of the Bank of France, to the Bank of France’s Annual Report 2006, submitted to the President of the French Republic, the President of the Senate, and the President of the National Assembly, 1 August 2007. *  *  *  I have the honour of submitting to you, as required by law, the report on the operations of the Banque de France, monetary policy and its outlook. The year 2006 was marked by robust and more balanced growth in global economic activity across virtually all regions. Thanks to this favourable international environment, the French economy saw a return to dynamic growth conducive to employment and the reduction of government deficits. This cyclical upturn should not, however, mask the structural difficulties facing the French economy, which is performing less well in all these areas than its main trading partners and which, moreover, is witnessing a further widening of its external deficit. Against this backdrop, I should like to outline a number of analyses of the growth environment, monetary policy, the state of the French economy and the main challenges that it needs to rise to in order to take advantage of globalisation and make structural improvements to growth and employment. In 2006, the European economy entered a period of sustained and balanced growth Growth in the euro area is sustained: after 2.9% in 2006, it could stand at 2.6% in 2007.
Our quest to create a dynamic Islamic financial system is to achieve the ultimate objective for Islamic finance that will contribute significantly toward the overall development of our economies, through the intermediation process to facilitate trade and investment. Moving forward, it is the ability of Islamic financial industry to build key strengths and enhance institutional capacity, intensify the collaborative efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of the Islamic financial infrastructure and the acceleration of its global integration that will provide the synergies and opportunities for the Islamic financial industry in the face of this more challenging environment. In doing so, Islamic finance can evolve into an important component of the international financial system that can contribute to enhance prospects for balanced global growth and shared prosperity. BIS Review 43/2003  3