A few examples: 1 Banks are engaged in short-term securities trading to a lesser extent than in earlier years.2 Many large international financial conglomerates have streamlined and simplified their structures.3 The use of complex, artificial financial instruments producing no real added value has declined.4 The markets for financial derivatives are more transparent.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as you all know, inflation has been one of our principal economic challenges. One of the main contributors to our current inflationary momentum is the continued significant growth in credit expansion, particularly credit expansion for consumer purposes. This has happened in the face of increasing interest rates, induced by Central Bank liquidity absorption measures.