Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to start by thanking our host, the University of Zululand, for affording me the opportunity to address you today. It is an honour to speak at this inaugural international conference of the University of Zululand. It has been a rather tumultuous year in international financial markets thus far, so I thought it appropriate to focus my remarks today on a few key global financial market developments and their impact on the domestic markets and monetary policy.