Overall, substantial weaknesses remain that need
to be addressed before the banking sector can fully
play its role in facilitating sustained economic
growth. The biggest challenge continues to be the
large overhang of NPLs that still has not been
disposed of. Looking back at Figure 9, it is evident
that despite a sizeable decline, system-wide NPL
ratio remains well over 10 percent. Even more
troublesome is the fact that the rate of NPL decline
due to debt restructuring seems to have reached a
plateau while the rate of NPL increase due to relapse
of restructured loans remains high (about 67 percent
of the total increase in NPL in the first three quarters
of 2003), volatile, and possibly rising. These
observations reflect weaknesses in the quality of
ongoing debt restructuring that continues to be
hampered by inadequacies in the legal framework as
well as simply the sheer number of cases that impose
large administrative burdens on both the financial and
legal system.