The last few years have witnessed a remarkable growth in new payment products and access channels viz. debit cards and credit cards issued by banks, and prepaid cards that can be issued by both banks and non-banks. The safety and efficiency of the access channels viz. ATMs, PoS, E-commerce and M-commerce have been instrumental in the popularization of these alternate payment products. 30.
Moreover, high levels of public deficit and debt place an additional burden on the conduct of monetary policy. The substantial widening of long-term government bond spreads in many parts of the world has recently demonstrated that financial markets are keen to distinguish between countries on the basis of their creditworthiness.