The second qualification is that Basel standards are intended for, and tailored to, large, complex, and internationally active financial institutions. As a result, the rules themselves have become large and extremely complex, and Basel III is certainly no exception here. Appropriate as they are for the global players, the rules tend to overburden small institutions.
Pre-emptive buying in anticipation of future price increases supported the level of durable purchases. The growth in real final consumption expenditure by general government accelerated somewhat from an annualised rate of 2½ per cent in the third quarter of 2001 to 3 per cent in the fourth quarter. This was concentrated in real spending on intermediate goods and services such as medicine.