The reluctance of consumers to incur debt stems mainly from the volatility in real interest rates over the past two years. The modest economic growth over the past eighteen months did not lead to meaningful employment creation. Further reductions were recorded in employment in the non-agricultural private sector as well as in the public sector, which were neutralised by increases in the informal sector.
At the same time, the growth in nominal unit labour costs slowed down significantly because of lower increases in the labour remuneration per worker and a rise in productivity.