With that in mind, we strongly encourage you to accelerate your transition efforts and respond swiftly to these important changes, which would no doubt bring about a substantial shift to our market activities and business practices. Above all and most importantly, we must stay committed and work together collectively, with our focus remain firmly on the common goal of ensuring a smooth and timely transition. 21. Given the limited amount of time today, I could only briefly touch on what the HKMA has been and will be doing for being the region’s sustainable financing hub. I look forward to sharing more updates and views with you on other occasions. I would also urge you to stay engaged for further benefitting from the unfolding opportunities in the sustainable financing space in Hong Kong! Thank you. 1 HKMA analysis of the volumes of Asian international green and sustainable bonds arranged in Hong Kong  4/4  BIS central bankers' speeches
You can see this clearly in chart 8. Both inflation and the output gap show a strong correlation with the development of the exchange rate. Appreciation of the Swiss franc equates to a tightening of monetary conditions. It leads via lower import prices to lower inflation. At the same time, the appreciation of the Swiss franc has a negative impact on utilisation of overall production capacity and thus also on general price developments. 9  The Swiss Federal Statistical Office and the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (2016), Switzerland and the Commodities Trade, Swiss Academies Factsheets, Vol. 11, No. 1. Page 11/13  It is not only the export-oriented companies trading in goods on the global markets that are affected by exchange rate fluctuations. Geographically, the Swiss economy lies at the centre of the European Economic Area. Even in the domestic market, Swiss companies are in direct competition with foreign companies and cannot set their prices as high as they would like above those of their competitors in neighbouring border regions. An appreciating franc erodes the competitiveness of these companies, too. In an exceptionally open economy like Switzerland that is highly integrated internationally, exchange rate fluctuations have a major impact on price stability and economic activity. Since 2009, we have repeatedly been confronted with situations in which the appreciation of the Swiss franc has led to an undesirable tightening of monetary conditions so that production capacity has not been fully utilised and inflation has temporarily dipped into negative territory.