of 2022. 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches for now, our assessment is that strong wage growth mainly reflects " catch - up " effects related to past inflation, rather than a self - fulfilling dynamic where people expect higher inflation in the future. but to assess how wages are evolving and whether they pose a risk to price stability, we will be closely monitoring a number of developments. first, whether firms absorb rising wages in their profit margins5, which would allow real wages to recover some of their past losses without the increase being fully passed through to inflation. second, whether there is some easing of labour market tightness, which would prevent excess demand for labour from becoming a driver of persistently high wage demands. and third, that inflation expectations remain anchored, which ensures that, when the current shock passes, wage and price - setting will be guided by our 2 % inflation target. in other words, we will need to remain attentive until we have firm evidence that the conditions are in place for inflation to return sustainably to our goal. that is why we have said our future decisions will ensure that our policy rates will be set at sufficiently restrictive levels for as long as necessary. and we have made those future decisions conditional on the incoming data, meaning that we can act again if we see rising risks of missing our inflation target. conclusion let me conclude. we have faced a major inflation shock and we have made a major policy adjustment in response. the effects of that adjustment are increasingly being felt and inflation pressures are easing. but there is still a journey ahead of us. our monetary policy is in a phase where we need to be attentive to the different forces affecting inflation – but always firmly focused on our mandate of price stability. 1 feldman, g. ( 1993 ), the great disorder : politics, economics, and society in the german inflation, 1914 - 1924, oxford university press. 2 bobasu, a., di nino, v. and osbat, c. ( 2023 ), " the impact of the recent inflation surge across households ", economic bulletin, issue 3, ecb. another study by ecb staff looks at the effects of fiscal measures on low - income households. see pallotti, f. paz - pardo, g., slacalek, j., tristani, o., violante, g. ( 2023 ), " who bears the costs of inflation? euro area households and the 2021

assets is close to 2 %. bild : so, are the german savers themselves to blame? draghi : no. but there are alternatives when investing savings. in the united states savers had to face seven years of zero interest rates. the financial system – banks and insurers – nevertheless still worked. money was invested in a variety of ways which in the end enabled a decent return. bild : of all people, german finance minister wolfgang schauble, who has supported you for years, is now among your strongest critics, saying your policies are damaging savers and thereby strengthening populist parties. does that get to you? draghi : i don ’ t take anything personally in my job. a polite and constructive debate is actually welcome and helps us to explain our policies. bild : really? draghi : yes. but one thing is clear : the ecb obeys the law, not the politicians. or, as one of my predecessors put it, it is normal for politicians to comment on our actions. but it would be abnormal if we listened to them. bis central bankers ’ speeches bild : does such criticism from the finance minister or from the german vice chancellor threaten the independence of the ecb? draghi : no. but any perception that the ecb ’ s independence is under attack can unsettle businesses and consumers. they might then postpone investment and spending decisions that would be good for jobs and growth. that might force the central bank to do more to achieve price stability. bild : has the strength of the criticism from germany also got something to do with the fact that you are an italian, and what do you think of demands that the next president of the ecb must be a german? draghi : there is really nobody in the world who is interested in the fact that i am an italian apart from the german media. and what difference would it make if a non - italian were now in office? none at all. he or she would pursue the same course as we do now. all other large central banks in the world are pursuing similar policies. bild : but it is precisely this policy of cheap money that is not working … draghi : wrong – our policy is working, but we must be patient ; investor confidence has not yet been fully restored. for two years, the economy in the euro area has been growing month by month, banks are lending and unemployment is steadily falling. meanwhile, euro area countries