It remains to be seen to what extent the unavoidable slow-down in real economic activity of the East Asian region will affect global economic developments over the next year. The South African economic conditions will obviously also be influenced by these developments, although our direct trade with the affected economies is relatively small.
As you know, the Danish Contingency Association and the government have already promised to cover all losses on lending to banks. A capital injection would reduce such losses and would thus serve as damage control. On top of the financial crisis, we were hit by severe currency unrest in October – the first such incident for more than 10 years.