We are closely monitoring the progressive increase in the demand for loans for investment, operating capital and stock enhancement, and the gradual decrease in demand for debt rollover. High-frequency data also signal a recovery in the labor market on the back of the reopening. Although employment in the services sector has been recovering more slowly amid pandemic-related restrictions and is still slightly below its prepandemic level, employment growth in the industry and construction sectors as well as the non-farm employment has exceeded pre-pandemic levels. We consider that the services employment will also exceed its pre-pandemic levels in the upcoming period. In the last couple of years, our economy suffered a variety of shocks, with the pandemic in the lead. The Central Bank has adopted a policy that curbs the  6  lasting effects of these shocks, safeguards domestic and external balances and prioritizes price stability as the ultimate goal. We are closely monitoring the current account and external financing data. Currently, the upward trend in exports, the recovery in tourism and the significant decline in gold imports support the ongoing improvement in the external balance. According to the provisional foreign trade data for August, our exports particularly to Europe are quite strong. The strong momentum in vaccination since June played an important role in the improvement of the risk perception towards Turkey and the easing of restrictions. In this context, we are getting positive signals on the recovery in tourism activity.
I would like to note that like other central banks, we also have considerations regarding the temporary nature of price movements resulting from supply shocks. While maintaining the tight monetary policy focusing on demand factors and their consistency with our medium-term inflation target, we will be giving more weight to decomposing the effects of supply shocks in the upcoming period. Before I finish my evaluations on inflation, I would like to make a few notes on the pricing behavior. Recently, price increases in certain products have exceeded their historical averages. When we look into the products that made the highest contribution to inflation, we observe that in August, annual price increases in those products exceeded the average price increases of the last 10 years by more than three to four times. Although one reason for this situation, as I mentioned before, is developments such as the pandemic-led increases in commodity prices and supply constraints, these factors alone may not fully explain the price increases in some products. However, we consider that such pricing behavior will converge to its pre-pandemic level as the economic and social normalization gains pace in the upcoming period. Lastly, when we look into exchange rate developments, we see that the improvement in our reserves is consistent with our forecasts. Reserves increased by USD 30 billion from USD 85-90 billion to USD 115-120 billion. Swap agreements, rediscount credits, gold ore purchases and reserve requirement steps have been the primary factors contributing to reserves.