, in the domain of fiscal policy. fiscal responsibility is the paramount challenge of our age. let me now turn to the second main fund activity, financial support. the scope and nature of this activity has changed considerably over the past few years. fund resources have been strongly supplemented, and the fund ’ s lending toolkit has been made more flexible. but multilateral financing has not been the only instrument used in tackling the crisis. regional facilities and central bank swap lines have also played a very important role. all these instruments have acted as complements, and not as substitutes, and together they have prevented a breakdown of the system. looking into the future, the important question is whether it is necessary to proceed beyond the existing loose network of multilateral, regional and bilateral facilities towards a truly global financial safety net. this would imply formal, systematic coordination between the different facilities to allow synchronised provisioning of liquidity during crises. apart from the fact that any significant transfer of power from national to supranational authorities is extremely difficult to achieve, i am not yet convinced that a global financial safety net of this kind is necessary or even desirable. first, concerns about moral hazard must be taken seriously. second, we have to be careful not to undermine established mechanisms at the national level. finally, let us not forget that it is only the central banks that can create liquidity as needed. and their cooperation has proven to be very effective during the recent crisis. let me now shortly outline the topic of the five panels of today ’ s conference. the first panel will discuss policy discipline and spillovers in an interconnected global economy. it will assess proposals for improving the surveillance of the system and global policy cooperation. the second panel will deal with global liquidity provision in systemic crises. it will evaluate the adequacy of currently available facilities and proposals on expanding them. the third panel focuses on capital flow management. it will follow up on the recently initiated discussion about a new, more uniform and balanced approach. the fourth panel will discuss the desirability and feasibility of a multi - polar currency and reserve system, and the fifth panel will wrap up and outline realistic objectives for 2011 and beyond. i am looking forward to a lively discussion and open exchange of views. let me remind everyone that this conference is being conducted strictly in accordance with the chatham house rule. with these words, i open the conference and leave the floor to the panellists. bis central bankers ’ speeches

mario draghi : ecb press conference - introductory statement introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, and mr vitor constancio, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 25 january 2018. * * * ladies and gentlemen, first of all let me wish you a happy new year. the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council, which was also attended by the commission vicepresident, mr dombrovskis. based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided to keep the key ecb interest rates unchanged. we continue to expect them to remain at their present levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of our net asset purchases. regarding non - standard monetary policy measures, we confirm that our net asset purchases, at the new monthly pace of €30 billion, are intended to run until the end of september 2018, or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until the governing council sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim. if the outlook becomes less favourable, or if financial conditions become inconsistent with further progress towards a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation, we stand ready to increase the asset purchase programme ( app ) in terms of size and / or duration. the eurosystem will reinvest the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the app for an extended period of time after the end of its net asset purchases, and in any case for as long as necessary. this will contribute both to favourable liquidity conditions and to an appropriate monetary policy stance. incoming information confirms a robust pace of economic expansion, which accelerated more than expected in the second half of 2017. the strong cyclical momentum, the ongoing reduction of economic slack and increasing capacity utilisation strengthen further our confidence that inflation will converge towards our inflation aim of below, but close to, 2 %. at the same time, domestic price pressures remain muted overall and have yet to show convincing signs of a sustained upward trend. against this background, the recent volatility in the exchange rate represents a source of uncertainty which requires monitoring with regard to its possible implications for the medium - term outlook for price stability. overall, an ample degree of monetary stimulus remains necessary for underlying inflation pressures to continue to build up and support headline inflation developments over the medium term. this continued