It is my pleasure to welcome you all here tonight. You are an especially important group as very often perceptions regarding South Africa are influenced by the views you convey to your institutions. Moreover, many of the institutions represented here tonight support South Africa inter alia by providing sizeable credit facilities to the country and to the Reserve Bank. We welcome the role you play in the South African economy and value our interactions with you during which useful information is exchanged especially regarding your views on South Africa and on the international economy. Tonight is not the occasion for a long address or an overview of the South African economy especially with the Monetary Policy Committee Meeting taking place next week with its customary release of a statement after the meeting. Moreover, I am most often impressed by your intimate knowledge of the South African economy. I have chosen rather to focus briefly on certain developments which have taken place, mainly from the perspective of developments in financial markets, since we last met with you as a group in the Reserve Bank. As you are well aware, 1999 was a much easier year to manage than 1998 when the rand experienced severe downward pressure and domestic interest rates were increased as part of the adjustment process to these pressures. To mention just a few key statistics, economic growth in 1999 improved to one per cent, and the CPIX, the CPI excluding interest on mortgage bonds, ended the year at 6,8 per cent (over-a-year-ago), an improvement on the start of the year. Calender 1999 was also a good year for the South African financial markets. Inward portfolio investment by non-residents amounted to no less than R54,7 billion of which R40,6 billion were flows into equities and the rest into bonds. Yields on long-term bonds fluctuated for the most part of the year in a band of between 14 and 15 per cent. In the beginning of the year, however, they had spiked to above 16,50 per cent before ending the year at around 13,25 per cent. The nominal exchange rate of the rand vis-a-vis the US dollar and against the trade-weighted basket were extremely stable during the course of 1999. Nominally the rand depreciated by less than one per cent against the basket and fluctuated in a narrow range of about R6,00 to R6,20 to the US dollar for most of 1999. These and other flows had enabled the Reserve Bank to reduce the net open foreign currency position by US$9,5 billion during the course of 1999.Despite overblown fears regarding Y2K, the new millennium started without complications. There was every expectation of another year in which the life of a South African central banker would be fairly relaxed. Yet this year global financial markets and certainly also South African markets have experienced heightened volatility. Portfolio flows turned negative. For year 2000 to date, non-residents exited the South African bond and equities market with net outflows amounting to R11,6 billion. This is partly explained by greater risk aversion shown by international investors generally. The exchange rate of the rand has depreciated by 8,7 per cent against the basket of currencies and by about 14 per cent vis-a-vis the US dollar since the beginning of the year. Capital market rates have also been much more volatile compared to 1999. In this environment it is not surprising that the NOFP has not declined by much in recent months. It has, however, declined by US$2,8 billion since the beginning of the year and it remains the Reserve Bank’s firm goal to reduce the NOFP gradually over time as and when circumstances permit.We remain concerned by the performance of the rand even acknowledging the strength of the US dollar. The dollar has weakened a little of late on the back of US data suggesting a moderation in the rate of growth of the US economy and the increased probability of a soft landing for the US economy. Contagion from conditions in other African countries has also played a role in explaining the pressures on the rand, as has heightened risk aversion by inte