We designed our instruments so as to provide long-term credit to banks and give them reassurance that they could satisfy their liquidity needs over an extended period. This gave banks a clear funding perspective and put them in a position to provide credit lines to the real economy, in line with their business assessment of credit risks.
Australia certainly weathered the financial crisis well, and with a real GDP some 13 per cent larger than it was at the beginning of 2009, compares well with many other advanced countries. It is the case, though, that growth while positive, has been running at a pace a bit below its trend pace for about 18 months now.