according to a survey by deutsche bank, it is possible to negotiate average price reductions of just under 5 %. 4 many chinese enterprises prefer to invoice in renminbi in any case, as it is difficult for them to exchange foreign currencies for renminbi. german entrepreneurs that wish to bolster their market position in china now have a way of entering into business dealings with such chinese enterprises easier. despite these advantages, many enterprises still hesitate to use the renminbi. the reasons given are the renminbi ’ s sticky convertibility and restrictions on the movement of capital. furthermore, until recently it was not possible to directly trade euros and renminbi. additionally, many smes shied away from using offshore markets like hong kong, since they want to avoid operating in a different time zone and business language. these caveats are now cleared away by the ongoing liberalisation. 2. 3 milestones since the end of september, it has also been possible to trade euros and renminbi directly on the chinese interbank foreign exchange market at an exchange rate fixed by cfets time period : august 2012 to august 2014, source : http : / / www. swift. com / assets / swift _ com / documents / products _ services / rmb _ tracker _ sept2014 _ sdc. pdf. swift data http : / / www. hsbctrinkaus. de / tubweb / pressroom. nsf / 0 / 4ca9d61803f1d8dec1257d1000264358 / $ file / 2014 – 07 – 09 % 20pm % 20hsbc % 20internationalisierung % 20renminbi % 20studie % 202014. pdf. https : / / www. db. com / medien / de / content / 3862 _ 4188. htm. bis central bankers ’ speeches ( china foreign exchange trade system ) in shanghai. the euro has thus become the tenth currency to be exchangeable directly for renminbi. 5 in addition, the chinese government is currently strengthening the renminbi offshore markets, giving importers outside china a means of paying in renminbi. this year, the chinese authorities gave the go - ahead for the first clearing banks outside asia : germany had the honour of underwriting the first memorandum of understanding on renminbi clearing in europe. subsequently london, paris, and luxembourg followed. in future, german

in effect standing by while bubbles and excesses threaten ﬁnancial markets. ” i believe paul volcker hits the nail on the head here : what central banks need to bear in mind is that an enduring easy - money policy can contribute to the build - up of imbalances in the ﬁnancial system. these could, in the long run, pose a threat to price stability. 2. 3 measuring inflation however, we should also think about whether our target variable, the rate of inﬂation, is currently being measured correctly. monetary policy is based on the harmonised index of consumer prices ( hicp ) for the euro area. in principle, it best meets the requirements of a measure for price stability within the euro area, in terms, for instance, of the breadth of the data collected and comparability within europe. the hicp also contains rents. however, a lot of people own their own ﬂats or houses. yet owneroccupied housing is absent from the hicp basket of goods. it is undisputed that the hicp should really include this component. many national consumer price indices incorporate it, and give it some weight – in the united states, for instance, it makes up 24 % of the index and it contributes a sizeable 10 % to the german index. its inclusion may consequently impact the level of the measured inﬂation rate. ecb experts have calculated that, in the past, the inclusion of such a component would have inﬂuenced the headline rate by up to 0. 2 percentage point in individual quarters. [ 17 ] in the long term, however, i expect that average hicp inﬂation would not change much. the reasons why owner - occupied housing is not included in the hicp are of a technical and methodological nature. i personally would be willing to accept some methodological shortcomings if that meant that we were able to better reﬂect people ’ s real - life situations. this would allow us to better fulﬁl our mandate of securing price stability within the euro area. 2. 4 instruments of monetary policy however, we cannot do so without the right tools. in recent years, we have seen the potential limits of traditional interest rate policy. we therefore need other tools in our toolkit to deal with such exceptional circumstances. monetary policy instruments should meet two criteria. https : / / www. bundesbank. de / en / press / speeches / change - and - continuity - 82