This makes it difficult to assess their net effect. It seems, however, that over the past year these forces have balanced out reasonably evenly. Abstracting from the weather-related disruptions in early 2011, GDP growth over the year was likely to have been around trend. Underlying inflation was at the midpoint of the medium-term target range. The unemployment rate remained low at 5–5¼ per cent.
BIS data shows that global financial assets stock increased sharply from about 100% of global GDP in 1980 to over 300% in 2005. This development was further accompanied by expansive growth in the amount and scope of derivatives and financial instruments.