As a result, households continued to reduce their saving ratio and to increase their net demand for financing. The principal new development in 2005 was the marked recovery in corporate productive investment expenditure, which focused particularly on the acquisition of capital goods. This pick-up was accompanied by a strong increase in credit, favoured by accessible financing conditions. Credit was directed especially at small – and in principle more dynamic – companies, and it spread to all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing industry. Public-sector demand also quickened last year, driven by the rise in investment that characterises the initial years of a legislature and by the increase in government consumption. As stated, the unbalanced features of this growth pattern were manifest again in 2005, especially in the behaviour of the external sector. Flat goods exports, despite the burgeoning growth of foreign markets, combined with a fresh and significant increase in imports to give rise to a further deterioration in the negative contribution of net external demand, which had already been very marked in 2004. A mix of factors was involved here: first, the increase in the energy bill and the greater buoyancy of demand in Spain compared with its EU neighbours, which partly reflects Spain’s different cyclical position; and further, the losses in competitiveness that have built up in recent years (and to whose source and consequences I shall refer later), along with other structural factors relating to the sectoral and trade composition of our economy.

Available at: https://www.creditsuisse.com/corporate/en/media/news/articles/media-releases/2012/07/en/42035.html 2  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  2  The Bank of England values diversity for three reasons. First, it is the right thing to do; a public institution should reflect the people it serves. Second, diversity can build the trust required to deliver our remits, as people are more likely to trust people they recognise, reducing misperceptions that we are experts making esoteric decisions in ivory towers for the benefit of others.5 Third, diversity leads to better decision-making, more creative thinking and reduces the risks of groupthink and bias.6 This last point is critical. Almost all decisions in finance are taken under uncertainty, making it especially important that decision makers are exposed to a range of views, and engage in open debates with people whose perspectives challenge the prevailing wisdom. Articulating why diversity and inclusion are important has helped the Bank move the dial. When I joined the Bank, only 17% of senior managers were women, so we set an ambitious target to reach 35% by 2020. The Bank is on track to achieve this: today, 32% of senior management are female, considerably above the 14% industry average. Our pipeline of future leaders also looks healthy: 46% of colleagues below senior management are women. This didn’t just happen. Reaching this point has required a deliberate, concentrated effort throughout the organisation. The power of organisations like the WIBF is that they help such approaches permeate through the industry.