For example, although firms’ fixed investment plans have been at high levels, coincident and leading indicators such as shipments of capital goods and machinery orders suggest that actual business fixed investment has been sluggish, and real business fixed investment on a GDP basis can be assessed as having been more or less unchanged, or even fallen marginally (Chart 9).
Fears that the banking system plans to transfer the cost of past lending errors to the market must be dispelled. Even the riskiest borrowers can be helped to access the market if potential financiers can rely on the transparency they need to make informed decisions. Unless these conditions are fulfilled, banks’ reputations and their clients’ confidence will be undermined.