common accord would have to be reached on the central parity against the euro. with a view to further enhancing the ecb ’ s transparency policy, the governing council has today decided to publish all non - confidential legal instruments governing the relationship between the ecb and the euro area national central banks in the official journal of the european communities. the release of these legal instruments in all 11 official community languages will give interested members of the public an opportunity to gain first - hand knowledge about the internal operation of the eurosystem. the members of the governing council regard the transparency of the decision - making process as an appropriate means by which to strengthen the democratic nature of the institution and to increase the public ’ s confidence in its administration. this decision is in line with the general policy towards increased transparency in the decision - making process currently being pursued at the community level.

european central bank : press conference - introductory statements introductory statements given by mr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, and mr christian noyer, vice - president of the european central bank, at the press conference held in frankfurt on 13 april 2000. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are here to report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council of the ecb. the governing council today conducted its regular examination of the outlook for price developments and the risks to price stability in the euro area. following this review, the governing council decided to maintain the interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the eurosystem at 3. 5 % and to keep the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and on the deposit facility at 4. 5 % and 2. 5 % respectively. allow me to give you an overview of the main elements of our assessment of the latest information on monetary, financial market and other economic developments. let me start with information in relation to the first pillar of our monetary policy strategy. no new monetary data have been released since the last meeting of the governing council, which was held in madrid on 30 march 2000. the annual growth rate of m3 in february 2000 was 6. 2 %. this implied a small increase in the three - month moving average of annual m3 growth, to 5. 9 %, from 5. 8 % recorded for the three - month period from november 1999 to january 2000. m3 growth thus remained around 1½ percentage points above the reference value of 4½ %. the picture of generous liquidity conditions in the euro area is also confirmed by the continued strong annual rate of growth of loans to the private sector, which stood at 10. 5 % in february. with regard to economic developments in the euro area, following strong growth of real gdp in the second half of 1999, most recent production and survey data suggest that the economic expansion also remained strong in early 2000. in particular, both consumer and industrial confidence have now reached levels which are close to the highest observed since the mid - 1980s. this picture of strong growth of domestic demand supports the favourable outlook for economic growth in the euro area as depicted in recent forecasts. the positive prospects for euro area activity also benefit from the strong cyclical upswing in the world economy, which has become more broadly based across industrial and emerging economies and which is expected to continue in the years to come. the exchange rate of the euro does