Turning to the economic outlook, a widely shared view of the prospect for overseas economies in 2003 is that, partly due to the continued firmness in Asian economies, they will follow a gradual recovery path. However, their recovery is likely to be anemic, at least for the time being, given the recent deceleration of the U.S. economy and the weakness in European economies.
Seventh, it is crucial to develop market intermediaries, since the disposal of assets relies importantly on the integrity and services of the intermediaries. Eighth, the objectives of setting up asset management companies are not only to dispose the nonperforming assets in a professional way, but also to make the commercial banks stronger so that they will be able to provide better financial services.