He took credit for balancing the budget each year, expanding the police force and a two-year decline in crime statistics.

State income tax revenue has stabilized after a two-year decline that opened a billion-dollar hole in the state budget.

Over all, the oilfield service sector has been rapidly consolidating, driven by a two-year decline in oil prices.

Boeing, the world's largest maker of airplanes, also cut its 2004 sales and earnings estimates, citing a two-year decline in airlines' demand.

The cancellations could mark the start of a deep slump in Israel's tourism industry, just recovering from a two-year decline attributed to the Palestinian uprising.

Bank lending to businesses has edged upward in recent weeks after a two-year decline that was widely blamed as a cause of the economy's downturn and weak recovery.

If toxicities or drug resistance forces enough patients off medication, he says, the two-year decline in the AIDS death rate could prove short-lived.

The Economy Bank lending to businesses has edged upward at a 1 percent annual rate in the last two months after a two-year decline.

In recent weeks, lending to businesses, after a two-year decline, has edged upward.

The effort is motivated in part by the two-year decline in compact disc sales.