sufficient to affirm a 4 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches sustained adjustment, if even less supportive monetary policy conditions were to imperil the inflation trajectory. monetary policy will evolve in a data - dependent and time - consistent manner. once the governing council judges that the three criteria for sustained adjustment have been met, net asset purchases will expire, in line with our guidance. from that point in time, the evolution of inflation will remain conditional on reinvestments continuing for an extended period of time and on policy rates remaining at their present levels well past the end of our net asset purchases. the stock of long - duration assets held in our portfolio will continue to put downward pressure on longer - term interest rates well beyond the end of our net purchases. policy rates remaining at their present levels well past the end of our net purchases will contribute to holding the short to intermediate portions of the yield curve in check for as long as necessary, thereby ensuring that financial conditions remain consistent with a sustained adjustment of inflation. 5 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches

) have fallen by around 120 basis points since june 2014, a large proportion of which can be attributed to the impact of our measures. moreover, the decline has been more marked in those countries that suffered more acutely from financial fragmentation during the crisis, showing that our measures have not only provided the necessary monetary accommodation, but also rehabilitated the transmission mechanism to ensure an even transmission of monetary policy throughout the euro area. loans to nfcs – sharply down when we introduced our unconventional measures – are growing again, and reached an annual growth rate of 2. 9 % in december 2017. taking these factors together, the overall impact of the ecb ’ s policy measures since mid - 2014 are estimated to have contributed significantly to output growth – and by around half a percentage point in 2017. while our measures have clearly played a decisive role in keeping inflation expectations anchored and have contributed to an improved inflation outlook, an ample degree of monetary accommodation remains necessary to secure a sustained return of inflation rates towards levels that are below but close to 2 %, as reaffirmed by the governing council at last week ’ s meeting. despite the strong cyclical momentum, domestic price pressures remain subdued, as do measures of underlying inflation. the evolution of the ecb ’ s forward guidance our monetary policy stance is determined by the combination and mutual interaction of our asset purchase programme, our policy rates and our forward guidance on each of these tools. the stimulus provided by these policy tools is complemented by the tltros, which will remain outstanding for the next three years. when our key policy rates reached exceptionally low levels, asset purchases became the main monetary policy instrument for calibrating our stance. this is why, since january 2015, when the app started, we have been signalling the traditionally tight connection between the ecb ’ s 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches monetary policy and our price stability objective by linking an assessment of the medium - term outlook for inflation to the size and duration of our net asset purchases. accordingly, when communicating about net purchases, we have expressed our intention to continue with our chosen pace of monthly purchases until we see “ a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with our inflation aim ”. this phrase describes the key contingency that has guided the course of our policy in the past few years and will continue to do so in the future. in addition, the pledge to re - invest the proceeds from the principal payments that accrue from the maturing securities in our portfolio should be