Internationally the oil price declined, world economic activity began to slow down and interest rates were reduced aggressively. The twelve-month growth rate of the CPIX was turned around and declined to 6,5 per cent in May 2001 and to 5,8 per cent in September. Taking all these developments into consideration, the Monetary Policy Committee decided to relax monetary policy.
Banking corporations are seen as being increasingly insensitive to the plight of the average customer and overly focused on their bottom line. Some of you may have read that in September, Bank of America decided to charge customers $ per month to make purchases via debt cards.