This makes it difficult to assess their net effect. It seems, however, that over the past year these forces have balanced out reasonably evenly. Abstracting from the weather-related disruptions in early 2011, GDP growth over the year was likely to have been around trend. Underlying inflation was at the midpoint of the medium-term target range. The unemployment rate remained low at 5–5¼ per cent.
And most lending rates in the economy were around average by end year. It is fair to say that very few developed economies could make these same claims. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  Looking forward, there are reasonable prospects that these favourable aggregate outcomes can continue for a while yet.