Mr. Chairman, by publicising the actions of the central bank, the media has become an important agent in facilitating the desired behavioural response of economic agents to monetary policy actions of the central bank. Due to the critical role of the media in the successful execution of public policy, the central bank needs to have a clear communications policy that supports the goals of the Central Bank. One of the major goals of communication policy, for instance, is to help anchor inflation expectation by promoting credibility and understanding of monetary policy. Indeed a notable change in central banking over the past 15 years has been a world-wide movement toward increased communication by central banks about their policy decisions, the targets that they seek to achieve through those decisions, and their view of the economy's likely future evolution. Mr. Chairman, It is argued that increased willingness to share the central bank's own assumptions about future policy with the public has increased the predictability of policy, in ways that have improved central bank's ability to achieve their stabilization objectives. Public information serves the dual role of conveying fundamental information as well as serving as a focal point for better coordination. As financial markets become more efficient in a country, and as the economy becomes more open, the central bank’s communication policy needs to adapt to these on-going changes.
Regional central banks and major institutional investors are aware of such limitations; hence the best way forward is to complement rating-embedded investment guidelines with a more robust and rigorous internal credit risk evaluation framework. In tandem with diversification into alternative asset classes, there is a growing emphasis to improve the sophistication of risk modelling, taking into account how risk can be initially understated when herding behaviour dominates, but rears its ugly head during reversals. iv)  The growing importance of Islamic finance  As events unfolded in the midst of the financial crisis, the sustained expansion of global growth and development in Islamic finance has emerged as one of the most prominent trends in global financial landscape. The industry continues to draw significant interests from all corners of the world. The global financial crisis underscores the potential role and relevance of Islamic finance as a viable approach in investing. Due to the Shariah prohibition of excessive leverage and unproductive cash hoarding, Shariah-compliant funds have outperformed their conventional peers since the onset of the crisis. As a result, there has been greater appreciation of the principles of Islamic finance, as evidenced by the expansion of interest and demand for Islamic financial products on a global scale. In line with the rapid growth of Islamic finance, emphasis has been placed on the development of the international financial infrastructure such as setting prudential standards and international best practices, a role spearheaded by the Islamic Financial Services Board.