I have already highlighted the very impressive growth in aggregate bank lending since the start of the millennium. However, most of this lending is extended to the non traded goods sectors, especially trade, construction and telecommunications, and to the household sector.
The traded goods sectors of the economy, such as agriculture and manufacturing, receive only 21 percent of total bank credit to the private sector. The low share of lending extended to the traded goods sectors is a concern because it is the growth and diversification of these sectors which are the principal drivers of technological upgrading and thus economic development over the long term.