Since early 1971 the country's banking system has consisted of the Bulgarian National Bank and two semi-independent banks attached to it: the Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank and the State Savings Bank. This banking system emerged after three reorganizations in the 1967-70 period and conforms to the general pattern of institutional and management concentration in the economy. In addition to serving as the central bank of issue, the Bulgarian National Bank, an independent agency under the Council of Ministers, is directly responsible for financing all sectors and phases of the economy other than foreign trade and consumer credit, in which fields it supervises the activities of the Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank and the State Savings Bank. The bank is also responsible for exercising close control over the economic units that it finances, with a view to ensuring the fulfillment of all national economic plans and the scrupulous adherence to existing laws and regulations. A minimum of current information was available in mid-1973 on the structure of the banks, the relationships between them, and their financial operations. Official statistics are limited to annual data on bank credits for investment and on the volume of outstanding short- and long-term loan balances for the banking system as a whole. Data on outstanding loans are broken down by type of borrower and, in the case of short-term loans, also by purpose. With minor exceptions, no information was available on the volume of loans extended, on loan maturities, or on interest rates after 1970. Statistics had also been published on the volume of personal savings in the accounts of the saving bank at the end of each year. The total amount of loans outstanding at the end of the year increased from 3.6 billion leva in 1965 to 9.2 billion leva in 1971. The proportion of long-term loan balances rose from 24 percent of the total amount in 1965 to 40 percent in 1970 but declined to less than 36 percent in 1971. The increase in lending activity to 1970 was a direct consequence of the partial shift from predominantly budgetary financing of economic activities to a substantial measure of self-financing by enterprises and trusts. The subsequent decline was related to the tightening of investment credit in an effort to reduce waste in the construction program (see Investment, this ch.). Long-term loans have been granted predominantly, if not exclusively, for fixed investment purposes.