On that score it is notable that in manufacturing, where the utilisation of production capacity is regularly monitored, the utilisation rate stood at 79,4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2001. This is still more than four percentage points below the peak rate recorded in 1995, indicating sufficient productive capacity to accommodate a further output expansion.
Some indications of bottlenecks in the transport sector are, however, worrying. While our capacity to communicate electronically is advancing in leaps and bounds, ordinary transport of people and goods sometimes seems to be a problem. Some of the construction industry’s recent pick-up in activity will help to resolve that problem.