Likewise, asset quality has significantly improved with preliminary NPL/NPA ratios of 5.8 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, moving closer to their pre-crisis levels of 4 percent. If you recall, we had double-digit NPL/NPA ratios of 17 percent and 15 percent, respectively, in 2001.
It is also worth noting that unlike our neighboring countries, the asset cleanup of our banking system did not require huge government bailouts. What we had were incentives to remove some friction costs.