With bank share prices at low levels, the incentive is for banks to achieve their required ratios through deleveraging, i.e. through reducing lending. A credit crunch is a distinct possibility at a time when the region is already heading into a recession.
The dates initially contained in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), which called for the establishment of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) by 2008; a SADC Customs Union by 2010; a SADC Common Market by 2015; a SADC Monetary Union by 2016; and a Single Currency by 2018, are now being reviewed.