The international comparison data suggest that we are one of the most generous countries—in the top handful. It's difficult to provide an accurate comparison across countries, because the criteria differs so much. There are so many variables to take into account. But when we look at the rate at which the credit is offered here and the base on which the credit is provided, both of these compare very favourably with virtually every other industrialized country.
On October 17th, 2006. See this statement in context.