would like to briefly touch on the medium - to long - term economic issues confronting japan. there is concern that the covid - 19 shock we are facing will remain for a long time as scarring effects. 16 in japan, after major shocks such as the bursting of the bubble economy and the gfc, their effects lasted for a prolonged period as sort of hysteresis effects ; people's sentiment deteriorated and the growth rate suddenly decelerated ( chart 14 ). it is important to avoid such " scarring effects " on the economy as much as possible in order to create a situation where japan's economy will return to a sustainable growth path without any sudden deceleration once the impact of covid - 19 subsides. therefore, the top priority is to overcome the crisis as swiftly as possible ; at the same time, it is also important to strengthen the growth potential while making the most of lessons learned from this crisis. while covid - 19 has had a significant impact on social and economic activities, this also could be an opportunity to reform the economic structure that will strengthen the growth potential. in fact, there have been various efforts to use information and communication technology ( ict ) in such areas as telework and online medical care. it is essential to see how society as a whole can make the most of the harsh experience of covid - 19. active investment, particularly in human capital, is necessary in order to strengthen the growth potential. 17 while the leading role in this regard falls on the private sector, the public sector will actively support their efforts. in this regard, central banks can provide liquidity through lending but cannot spend money. it is the private sector and the governments that can spend as for concern over the impact of covid - 19 on people's sentiment, see eichengreen, b., " an infrastructure inoculation for america's recovery, " project syndicate, january 13, 2021, https : / / www. project - syndicate. org / commentary / us - economic - recovery - biden - infrastructure - plan - bybarry - eichengreen - 2021 - 01. 17 a delay in japan's ict investment is discussed in wakatabe, m., " japan's economy and monetary policy, " speech at a meeting with business leaders in saga, september 2, 2020, https : / / www. boj. or. jp / en / announcements / press / koen _

various platforms that are relevant and practical for the community and link well with the global community. the second order effect of enhanced access to nancial services is, therefore, a structural shift to higher economic and growth potential for the region ( for both individuals and businesses ) and, thus enhanced contribution to national economic prospects. in the context of today ’ s theme, where the economic essence of being rural does not connote backwardness, but involves a transition to encompass meaningful alternative economic activity that entails income earning opportunities, impactful production and employment creation. in the eld of economic studies, this will be de ned as a shift in the production frontier. for example, while still producing sh, it is with better methods / equipment, knowledge, larger production, trade with the rest of the world, it is sustainable and renewable, and positively impacts social welfare, over the long - term. as a third element, the prospective transition and structural shift of economic activity would ideally be more aligned to global production and performance attributes in terms of value chains, expectations on quality, standards and productivity. this, therefore, underpins prospects for maintenance and expansion of external markets, including tourism fi fi fi fi fi nance projects, asset acquisition, working capital, facilitating timely services, agriculture and other industries, resonating very well with the export - oriented development strategy that anchors the nation ’ s economic recovery and transformation plan and the vision 2036 growth trajectory objectives. enhanced access to nancial services, therefore, plays a key role in this regard. i am pleased, in this regard, to observe that in the advent of the covid - 19 challenges, absa, together with other banks participated meaningfully in alleviating the adverse impact. for example, absa helped 48 businesses through their restructuring of loan facilities amounting to p419 million. in addition, absa bank participated in the government covid - 19 loan guarantee scheme ( administered by beci ) introduced to support eligible businesses with access to credit from banks to shore up business operations, whereby up to now, it has supported eight businesses with loans amounting to p41. 5 million. for emphasis, and to broaden this to the national context, i need to observe that, indeed, in the long - term and especially as diamond revenues decline, covid - 19 pandemic has illuminated the realisation that, the current development model, primarily based on government spending, is likely to be constrained by scal sustainability realities, reinfor