New lending for consumption purposes more than doubled to $ million in the first half of the year when compared with the same period last year. Other indicators such as VAT collections, imports of consumption goods and new vehicle sales are also registering significant annual gains.
2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  The improved consumer confidence has translated well to business and investor confidence. Investment is forecast to be around 28 percent of GDP this year, compared to an estimated 18 percent of GDP last year and above the Government target of 25 percent. We last only briefly touched on these levels back in 1998 and 1981!