We are in an environment of global economic moderation, with a very moderate recovery in the advanced economies, and expectations are that this process will continue in the coming year. With that, the emerging economies are in a slowdown, and the expectation is that growth will continue to be relatively moderate for these countries.
Therefore, the Bank had to take decisive and proactive steps to protect our financial position. Over the last four years, the Bank had raised interest rates, reduced liquidity and tightened exchange controls. One thing we can be sure about is that raising interest rates and tightening exchange controls are never going to be popular. But unfortunately they are necessary.