BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  The banking system is the main source of funding for our economy. At the end of 2012 bank credit to firms and households amounted to just under € trillion, or 94 per cent of GDP; banks’ investment in government securities came to around € billion. The highly unfavourable state of the economy depresses credit demand today.
The economy also has many positive aspects. It has also shown itself to be flexible in the past and should be able to adapt to adverse developments, if they were to occur.