The year 2004 was again another very challenging year for the banking community, being a presidential election year with all the uncertainty that usually surrounds such a major political event. We also bore witness in the second half to a sharp increase in oil prices that inevitably had major impact on the whole economy.
But in spite of all these, the economy still turned in a very respectable outcome. GDP growth is estimated at 6.2 percent. Headline inflation has picked up to around 7.9 percent in December 2004, due mainly to the feed through from energy price adjustments and other supply side shocks, but more broad-based inflationary pressures were held in check.