The UK has begun the process of redefining its relationship with its largest trade and investment partner. To be clear, the intention is not to turn inwards but rather to increase openness over time. In particular, the UK government’s objective is a “comprehensive, bold and ambitious free trade agreement with the European Union.” Leaving the EU is intended to enhance the UK’s ability to strike trade and investment agreements with a wide range of countries beyond those covered by virtue of its membership of the EU. But Brexit is an example of reculer pour mieux sauter. 44  That’s because any reduction in openness with the  EU is unlikely to be immediately compensated by new ties of a similar magnitude with other trade partners. And even if new agreements with other partners could be struck instantaneously, the reorientation of business relationships will take some time. This makes Brexit, relative to the experience of the past half century, unique. It will be, at least for a period of time, an example of de-globalisation not globalisation. It will proceed rapidly not slowly. Its effects will not build by stealth but can be anticipated. Let me turn to those effects. The first is the obvious disinflationary impact of Brexit given that the EU takes 44% of UK exports.
Durmuş Yılmaz: Current issues in economic governance Opening remarks by Mr Durmuş Yılmaz, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, at the Conference on Current Issues in Economic Governance, organised by Bilkent University, Ankara, 2 April 2008. *  *  *  Ministers, Academicians, Bureaucrats and Guests, Thank you all for accepting the invitation. It is a great pleasure to address such a distinguished audience. I would like to thank Bilkent University for organizing this conference at this juncture. In fact, the timing could not be any better. The recent global financial turbulence has put good governance principles at the center of public debate. I hope, the conference will strengthen our understanding of the subject by building on the lessons derived from the conference last year. Let me start with reviewing the recent developments in financial markets. You may have heard about a proverb attributed to the Chinese: “May you live in interesting times!” Here, "interesting" means dangerous or turbulent; therefore, the whole phrase is something of a curse. It turned out that the phrase was not of Chinese origin, but ascribed to them to make it sound wiser. Whatever the origin, it is certain that we are experiencing such a spell right now. We have been witnessing a global financial turbulence since mid-2007. Its magnitude, measured by the volatility index (VIX), is larger than that of the turbulence in 2006. It was triggered by the falling house prices and subsequent problems in the sub-prime mortgage market and mortgage based securities.