In the business space, the banking system has fairly modest direct exposure to the falls in oil and other commodity prices, with lending to businesses involved in mining and energy accounting for only around 2 per cent of banks' total lending. More generally, competition to lend to business has increased over the past couple of years and business credit growth has picked up appreciably.
This competition was very creative, had a lot of good essays and the commission had a lot of hard work in selecting the winner. I can say that there were no losers in this competition. All the essays were very good and I have the honor of today awarding the most distinguished awards.