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It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Target Two Point Zero - the Bank of England and The Times Interest Rate Challenge. We introduced the Challenge in 2000 to give students a practical understanding of the way the economy works and an insight into how the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee goes about its task of achieving the Government's inflation target. We have been delighted by the enthusiastic response of students and teachers alike. I hope that you will enjoy taking part in the Challenge as much as your predecessors.

The competition offers students a great opportunity to broaden their understanding of monetary policy and how it relates to the economy as a whole. You will learn about how interest rates affect inflation and what matters when making interest rate decisions - what information the Monetary Policy Committee uses and how judgements are formed. And, of course, you will have the chance to have a go yourselves and tell members of the Monetary Policy Committee what interest rate you would set - and why. There will also be ample opportunity to develop and demonstrate key skills, which are now an important part of post-16 education. There will be no right or wrong answers - there never are. The Challenge is to demonstrate your understanding, present a well-argued case for your interest rate decision and then answer the judges' questions convincingly. All the necessary information will be provided in a resource manual and on these specially designed pages on the Bank's website, but you can use other information if you wish. Finalists will be guests of the Bank of England in London for the two days of the national final and the winning team will receive the Bank of England and The Times Interest Rate Challenge trophy and a substantial cash prize for their school.

May I take this opportunity to encourage you to take part in the Interest Rate Challenge. I look forward to the tenth national final in London in March 2010. I hope that you will always feel that taking part in Target Two Point Zero was worthwhile and rewarding.

Mervyn King, Governor