These developments discouraged strategic, sustainable orientation and decisionmaking in tangible production and service operations (see also: UNCTAD, 2008c and 2008d). However, in real terms, the general commodity price level did not reach its average of the 1970s, and remained far below the price hikes of those years. Even so, the real price level of crude petroleum and minerals and metals did reach new historical peaks in mid-2008. Indeed, excessive bank bailouts and continuing inattention to the more systemic problems by developed-country governments might render the prospects for economic recovery bleaker in the medium-term. The related escalating public debt17 and higher reserve requirements for banks may well exert upward pressure on future interest rates, jacking up the costs of borrowing for the productive sector and fuelling inflation. The provision of a solid set of social protection measures does not appear to have led to reduced trade competitiveness; in fact, if anything, such measures may have improved competitiveness, as workers’ security is conducive to innovation and rapid productivity growth.