previously that had been the preserve of british manufacturers. the swedish firms took over the domestic market and were even able to export their products. much the same happened with the manufacture of passenger carriages and goods wagons. today we can see similar developments in the it industry. besides the giant ericssson, sweden has many different it enterprises. but growth is still being driven not so much by users of the new communication facilities as by the production of new possibilities. to continue with the comparison, in the next phase people started to travel by rail. a journey from stockholm to gothenburg admittedly took 11 hours and 45 minutes in 1865 but that was nothing compared with a horse - drawn carriage. travelling became quicker and more efficient ; people gained new impressions and learned new things. sweden became smaller. today we travel on the internet by gathering information simply and efficiently from all over the world, largely for the price of a local telephone call. millions of people in all parts of the world are indeed using this facility and in that sense the world has now become smaller. the really important phase, however, was when the railways began to affect processes for production and distribution. previously, production in sweden had been located in the vicinity of iron ore and forests. the units were numerous and not particularly efficient ; transportation was slow. in the county of varmland, for example, there were sixty different sites for the production of iron in 1870. when the railways had been constructed, it was easier to concentrate production to fewer sites ; by around 1900 there were only six sites and they were accordingly considerably more efficient. this is just an example to illustrate how the railways played a major part in sweden ’ s industrial upswing in the late 19th century. productivity and growth rose. for the information technology, this phase of the process probably lies ahead. the new technology has not yet seriously altered either production and distribution processes or consumer behaviour. progress is still a little hesitant as more and more people use the new technique for surfing and learn the new technology. the potential will also be limited as long as the technique is not entirely user - friendly. it generates pressure for change when the new information technology really catches on, it will probably lead to a rapid expansion and transformation of capital stocks. the entire economy will then be involved in intensive investment and high productivity growth. old technology will be replaced by new and each unit of capital equipment will then require a smaller input of labour. unprofitable units or firms will be closed down, accompanied by new establishments

9 8. 3 7. 1 11. 0 1. 6 1. 9 0. 0 2012 ( f ) ipom ipom jun. mar. cf may. current account ( percent of gdp ) ( f ) forecast. source : central bank of chile. table 2 world growth ( annual change, percent ) average 00 - 08 ( e ) 2011 ( f ) ipom ipom jun. mar. cf may. world at ppp world at market exchange rate 4. 0 3. 1 - 0. 6 - 2. 1 4. 9 3. 8 4. 1 3. 0 4. 1 3. 2 4. 2 3. 3 4. 4 3. 7 4. 5 3. 8 4. 6 3. 9 united states eurozone japan china rest of asia latin america ( excluding chile ) 2. 3 2. 0 1. 4 10. 4 4. 9 3. 6 - 2. 6 - 4. 1 - 6. 3 9. 2 0. 1 - 2. 0 2. 9 1. 7 4. 0 10. 3 7. 7 6. 4 3. 0 1. 3 0. 8 8. 9 4. 5 4. 2 2. 7 1. 7 - 0. 6 8. 9 4. 8 4. 2 2. 7 1. 7 0. 0 9. 3 5. 0 4. 4 3. 2 1. 5 2. 3 8. 7 5. 0 4. 2 3. 2 1. 5 3. 1 8. 6 4. 9 4. 3 3. 2 1. 7 2. 8 8. 9 5. 2 4. 3 commodity exporters trading partners 2. 9 3. 5 - 1. 0 - 0. 3 2. 9 5. 9 2. 6 4. 4 2. 7 4. 3 2. 7 4. 6 3. 0 4. 6 3. 0 4. 7 3. 2 4. 9 ( e ) estimate. ( f ) forecast. sources : central bank of chile based on a sample of investment banks, consensus forecasts, the imf. and statistics bureaus of respective countries. bis central bankers ’ speeches figure 3 commodity prices ( 1 ) ( index, may 2010 - june 2011 = 100 ) ( monthly index, 2006 = 100 ) 140 250 jun. 10 oct. 10 feb. 11 feb. 11 jun. 11 jun. 11 jun. 10 oct. 10 energy metals 06 07 08 09 10 11 11 (