benoit cœure : interview with france info interview with mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, and france info, conducted by mr jean leymarie on 9 april 2018 and published on 10 april 2018. * * * we are still seeing growth in europe, there is certainly growth, but it seems increasingly clear that it is slowing down. does that worry you? i don ’ t think we are seeing a slowdown in growth. this is something that we monitor very closely, we follow all the indicators. we are seeing indicators that had risen to very, very high levels, levels that had not been seen for many years, in some cases 10 or 15 years. and these indicators are now undergoing a slight correction that was fairly inevitable, as there comes a point when growth stops accelerating and stabilises on a certain trajectory. moreover, this was already incorporated in our forecasts. so we will not be revising our forecasts at present as a result of this correction. i can ’ t speak for the future – we will continue to monitor these developments – but, for now, it ’ s a stabilisation, and it ’ s not something that particularly concerns us. could it result in a change in your monetary policy? no, for the reasons i have just given. again, i ’ m not going to speak for the future, since everything is completely dependent on the data we receive on an ongoing basis. but monetary policy follows a long - term trajectory, one that requires patience. we know that monetary policy will need to remain very accommodative for quite some time. just to remind our listeners : there is, in particular, the huge asset purchase programme you launched three years ago, which has involved buying public and private sector securities for the vast sum of €2, 500 billion. when are you going to end this programme? that is a discussion that we will certainly be having soon, since the programme is currently proceeding at a monthly pace of €30 billion until at least september. we haven ’ t said any more than that. so, we ’ ll need to have a discussion fairly soon about what comes next … will it have come to a stop by the end of the year? i don ’ t know yet, because the governing council of the ecb has not yet discussed it, let alone reached a decision. but the discussion is not just about asset purchases, it ’ s also about the right combination of

the end of an illusion – that bitcoin could become a global currency that would eventually replace the dollar or the euro. we can clearly see that bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies in general, cannot be considered reliable assets, or as economists like to say, a “ store of value ”, when their value fluctuates so much. this isn ’ t how you go about investing your savings for your retirement. but we shouldn ’ t disregard the possibilities opened up by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, particularly on the technological front. it ’ s something that all central banks are looking at. for example, we ’ re investigating whether “ blockchain ” technology, which underpins bitcoin, could one day support our payment systems. this sort of thinking is useful, important and positive. but for bitcoin defenders it ’ s not just about the technology. it ’ s almost a philosophy for them – they see it as a free currency that can throw off the shackles of states and central banks. do you understand that? yes, and i think we must take heed of that. investors should be warned about the specific dangers of investing in bitcoin, and everybody has done so. but we also have to understand what this tells us – technologies exist that can transform the world of payments and currencies, and these technologies should be incorporated. it ’ s also telling us that there is a certain amount of defiance towards the traditional financial system, and potentially that everything we have done since the financial crisis to reform the banks, clean up the financial system and reduce risks may not have been enough, or may not have been understood. and that ’ s something we have to take on board. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches