Confidence indicators remain high. Yet the main driver of consumption is the improvement in income levels and prospects. Last year households’ disposable income increased in real terms by 1.6 per cent,  double the figure for 2015; it continued to grow, though at a slightly slower rate, in the first three months of this year too.
A BIS survey of central banks in 1999 found that the majority were not required, and often not allowed, to lend to governments, either by legislation or written agreements with their government. Particularly strong prohibitions exist in Brazil, Chile, Peru and Poland, where lending to the government is precluded by the constitution. In other countries a limit may be specified in law.