suggest i know exactly where we ’ ll be, say, in the middle of next year. when will savings interest rates increase for savers, provided that interest rates are raised in 2019? it all depends on which interest rate adjustments are made and how quickly the institutions pass them on. but for deposits interest rates are actually negative, and so it will obviously take longer to increase these gradually ( as this cannot be done in one go ) to a level that resembles where rates for savers were 10 or 20 years ago. it will take some time to be honest. so savers still have to wait another one or two years? again, it depends on how the inflation rate develops. in the united states we ’ re seeing signs of a recession. yields on longer - term government bonds in the united states are sometimes lower than the yields on those with shorter maturities, which is a completely abnormal situation. normally you get more money the longer you lend. this is what is referred to as an inverted yield curve. this has happened eight times since the second world war. in the united states this has always resulted in a recession. the federal reserve is already actively preparing itself for a recession. what is the ecb doing to protect us here in the euro area from a downturn? once again, the us economy has achieved a different level of maturity. the country ’ s upswing started much earlier – years earlier – and was much stronger. but a recession in the united states would also affect us here in europe. yes, but if you take a look, we have become much more independent. so i wouldn ’ t want to draw or confirm the same parallels that you saw in the economic cycles 20 or 30 years ago for today. the euro area economy is much more diversified in terms of partners, in terms of trading partners, and we are no longer quite as dependent. we are in a different economic cycle. so you can mention us interest rates another 150 times, but it ’ s not going to help us, because we need to base our assumptions on data in the euro area. 4 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches you are listening to deutschlandfunk ’ s interview of the week, today with sabine lautenschlager, member of the ecb ’ s executive board. ms lautenschlager, you ’ re not only a member of the ecb ’ s executive board, but also vice - chair of the supervisory board of the ecb. i would therefore

for the economy, also for the german economy. and the european economy, i. e. firms in the euro area, who would benefit from as many payments as possible being made in euro rather than in us dollar or in other currencies. that would remove the exchange rate risk. they would not have to calculate exchange rates and so it would be to their advantage if the euro gained in importance. your second question was how 2 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches that could be done. well, we could create circumstances that would make it easier to use the euro as a currency. infrastructure, more payments in euro, would then mean fewer risks. that could be achieved by promoting the capital markets union, by advancing the banking union, by harmonising insolvency regimes. all of these things help enormously. you are listening to deutschlandfunk ’ s interview of the week, today with sabine lautenschlager, member of the ecb ’ s executive board. ms lautenschlager, the us federal reserve raised interest rates shortly before christmas, for the fourth time this year. they are now between 2. 25 % and 2. 5 %. the ecb is taking no action at all on interest rates, why not? the us economy is different, as are us price developments. it is not our task to copy the federal reserve ; our mandate is to maintain price stability in the euro area … but many people are waiting on an interest rate hike here, too. yes, some people are waiting while others are very happy that the interest rates for housing construction in germany or for investment in companies, in new jobs, remain low. it completely depends on whom you ask, mr kindermann. yes, there are many savers who are concerned about their pension plans because interest rates are simply not going up. what would you say to them? well, i ’ m a saver myself. i understand their position very well and i will be the first to vote in favour of further normalisation of monetary policy once the necessary conditions are in place. our asset purchase programme ends in january. that means we have taken a first step towards the normalisation of monetary policy and i hope that the data that we receive in 2019 will be such that we can take further steps in 2019. when you say the end of the asset purchase programme, it ’ s actually not the end at all, because the ecb is still blithely purchasing assets. it