It is very important for future French growth, for investment and for job creation that we have the lowest medium- and long-term market rates in the European Union today and the third lowest interest rates in the world. Second, price stability curbs cost increases in our productive sector. In doing so, the competitiveness of our economy—other things being equal—is preserved and enhanced. This is good for future French growth and for job creation. It is important to note that we currently have a dynamic export sector and, according to the latest forecasts for 1996, the third highest current account surplus in the world. One other indicator of competitiveness is encouraging, namely the flow of foreign direct investment into France. It stood at FRF 120 billion in 1995. The latest figures for the first nine months of 1996 show inward foreign direct investment totalling FRF 74 billion. In all, since the beginning of 1995, a total of FRF 194 billion, the equivalent of USD 39 billion, has been invested directly in France, making us the third-ranking industrialized economy in terms of inward foreign direct investment, behind the United States and the United Kingdom.
Ravi Menon: Blended finance for the net-zero transition Opening remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the "Transition Finance towards Net Zero" conference, Singapore, 4 October 2022. *** Good morning and welcome to the inaugural Transition Finance towards Net Zero conference. COP27 will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in a little over a month. We are privileged to have with us Dr Rania Al-Mahsat, Egypt's Minister for International Cooperation, who will set out the Egyptian COP27 Presidency's priorities to turn climate ambition into climate action. Why are we gathered here? Let me briefly lay out the problem statements and then set out how this conference hopes to contribute in specific ways to help the situation. First, the world is currently not on a trajectory to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. And we know this is what is required to prevent or avoid catastrophic climate change. To reach Net Zero by 2050, the world needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, relative to 2010 baseline levels. But emissions today are still rising, not falling. And according to the UN Emissions Gap report 2021, based on our current policies in place, the world is 55% short of the emissions reduction target for 2030. Second, the world is investing nowhere near what is required to get to net zero by 2050.