According to the Commercial Bank Association’s Quarterly Bulletin, this sector’s assets have increased to RD$290.3 billion from January to September 2005, as reported by El Caribe. This amount represents an absolute increase of RD$36.6 billion and a relative increase of 14.43% compared to 2004. This growth has permitted the satisfactory recovery of intermediation in economic activities, which grew from 32.6% in December 2004 to 38.9% in September 2005. The bulletin points out that it is worth noting that this increase in assets is not accompanied by an equally significant increase in the loans portfolio, as the latter shows a relative growth of 6.4%, from RD$124.7 million in December 2004 to RD$132.7 in September 2005.