This improvement has been driven by goods exports and, to a lesser extent, by services exports. A case in point is the refinery industry, which has become one of the most extrovert among manufacturing sectors. Developments in productive investment as a driver of growth have been less encouraging.
Although the evidence is as yet incomplete, this episode has been much less serious than those in the mid 1970s, the early 1980s and the early 1990s. It also has been very mild indeed in comparison with recent outcomes in many other countries, where deep recessions have been experienced.