to raise interest rates by another 50 basis points at our next monetary policy meeting in march and we will then evaluate the subsequent path of our monetary policy. keeping interest rates at restrictive levels will over time reduce inflation by dampening demand and will also guard against the risk of a persistent upward shift in inflation expectations. moreover, from the beginning of march 2023, the app portfolio will decline at a measured and predictable pace, as the eurosystem will not reinvest all of the principal payments from maturing securities. our future policy rate decisions will continue to be data - dependent and determined meeting by meeting. we stand ready to adjust all of our instruments within our mandate to ensure that inflation returns to our medium - term target. we are now ready to take your questions. 4 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches

towards making our economy more productive and gradually bringing down high public debt. policies to enhance the euro area's supply capacity, especially in the energy sector, can help reduce price pressures in the medium term. to that end, governments should swiftly implement their investment and structural reform plans under the next generation eu programme. the reform of the eu's economic governance framework should be concluded rapidly. inflation according to eurostat's flash estimate, which has been calculated using eurostat estimates for germany, inflation was 8. 5 per cent in january. this would be 0. 7 percentage points lower than the december figure, with the decline owing mainly to a renewed sharp drop in energy prices. market - based indicators suggest that energy prices over the coming years will be significantly lower than expected at the time of our last meeting. food price inflation edged higher to 14. 1 per cent, as the past surge in the cost of energy and of other inputs for food production is still feeding through to consumer prices. price pressures remain strong, partly because high energy costs are spreading throughout the economy. inflation excluding energy and food remained at 5. 2 per cent in january, with inflation for non - energy industrial goods rising to 6. 9 per cent and 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches services inflation declining to 4. 2 per cent. other indicators of underlying inflation are also still high. government measures to compensate households for high energy prices will dampen inflation in 2023 but are expected to raise inflation once they expire. at the same time, the scale of some of these measures depends on the evolution of energy prices and their expected contribution to inflation is particularly uncertain. although supply bottlenecks are gradually easing, their delayed effects are still pushing up goods price inflation. the same holds true for the lifting of pandemic - related restrictions : while weakening, the effect of pent - up demand is still driving up prices, especially in the services sector. wages are growing faster, supported by robust labour markets, with some catch - up to high inflation becoming the main theme in wage negotiations. at the same time, recent data on wage dynamics have been in line with the december eurosystem staff projections. most measures of longer - term inflation expectations currently stand at around two per cent, but these warrant continued monitoring. risk assessment the risks to the outlook for economic growth have become more balanced. russia's unjustified war against ukraine and its people continues to be a significant downside risk to the economy and could