Enhanced access to  nancial services,  therefore, plays a key role in this regard. I am pleased, in this regard, to observe that in the advent of the COVID-19 challenges, Absa, together with other banks participated meaningfully in alleviating the adverse impact. For example, Absa helped 48 businesses through their restructuring of loan facilities amounting to P419 million.
India, though initially somewhat insulated from the global developments, was eventually impacted significantly by the global shocks through all the channels – trade, finance and expectations channels. The Reserve Bank, like most central banks, took a number of conventional and unconventional measures to augment domestic and foreign currency liquidity, and sharply reduced the policy rates.