•  Christmas and Carnival sales were much lower than last year. •  Automobile sales and purchases of consumer durables are sharply down. •  Several large firms (Mittal Steel, Digicel, Hilton Hotel) have announced layoffs. •  While reliable data are not available, the decline in regional and local demand could be affecting manufacturing output and exports.
Neither the aggregate decline in the number of banking organizations of all sizes nor the increase in aggregate concentration ratios tells us much about the competitive effects of consolidation. Competition in banking is fought on the battlefield of the local market, especially for households and small and medium-sized businesses.