Also noteworthy is that Tier 1 capital adequacy stood at 10,2 per cent. This high level of capitalisation makes the banking sector more resilient to economic shocks.
Although some deterioration in asset quality has been observed over recent months (for example, impaired advances to gross loans and advances increased to 3,8 per cent by December 2008), this was more attributable to the tightening of domestic monetary policy and slowing growth than to the global financial crisis.