While the growth rate of the economy is expected to slow this year, it will still represent a good performance by international standards, and growth is expected to recover in 2009 and subsequent years. Prices in the residential housing market are in the process of returning to more realistic levels. The health of the domestic banking sector remains robust.
This brings me to one key lesson from the turmoil, namely that full and meaningful disclosure of exposures and losses is desirable, in order to reduce market pressures and restore confidence in financial institutions globally.