overall. underlying inflation in the euro area is expected to continue to rise gradually over the medium term, supported by our monetary policy measures, the continuing economic expansion, the corresponding gradual absorption of economic slack and rising wage growth. turning to the monetary analysis, broad money ( m3 ) continues to expand at a robust pace, with an annual rate of growth of 5. 1 % in september 2017, after 5. 0 % in august. as in previous months, annual growth in m3 was mainly supported by its most liquid components, with the narrow monetary aggregate m1 expanding at an annual rate of 9. 7 % in september 2017, up from 9. 5 % in august. the recovery in the growth of loans to the private sector observed since the beginning of 2014 is proceeding. the annual growth rate of loans to non - financial corporations increased to 2. 5 % in september 2017, after 2. 4 % in august, while the annual growth rate of loans to households remained stable at 2. 7 %. the euro area bank lending survey for the third quarter of 2017 indicates that net loan demand has continued to increase for all loan categories. credit standards have further eased for loans to households, while they remained broadly unchanged for loans to enterprises. banks ’ overall terms and conditions on new loans have continued to ease for all categories of loans. the pass - through of the monetary policy measures put in place since june 2014 continues to significantly support borrowing conditions for firms and households, access to financing ‒ notably for small and medium - sized enterprises ‒ and credit flows across the euro area. to sum up, a cross - check of the outcome of the economic analysis with the signals coming from the monetary analysis confirmed the need to recalibrate the policy instruments to ensure the degree of monetary accommodation necessary to secure a sustained return of inflation rates towards levels that are below, but close to, 2 %. in order to reap the full benefits from our monetary policy measures, other policy areas must contribute decisively to strengthening the longer - term growth potential and reducing vulnerabilities. the implementation of structural reforms in all euro area countries needs to be substantially stepped up to increase resilience, reduce structural unemployment and boost euro area productivity and growth potential. regarding fiscal policies, all countries would benefit from intensifying efforts towards achieving a more growth - friendly composition of public finances. a full, transparent and consistent implementation of the stability and growth pact and of the macroeconomic imbalance procedure over time and across countries remains essential to increase the res

benoit cœure : lessons from east asia for the euro area speech by mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the asia europe economic forum on “ challenges and prospects for asian and european economies ”, beijing, 28 october 2013. * * * i would like to thank ine van robays for her contribution. i remain solely responsible for the opinions contained herein. ladies and gentlemen, the global economic and financial crisis confronted the world economy not only with financial turbulence, loss in output and social distress on a scale not seen since the great depression. it also created a series of challenges for policy - makers. across the euro area, it exposed structural and institutional weaknesses that had remained hidden during the preceding era, the “ great moderation ”. times of crisis are times of hardship – but they are also times of change and opportunity. this seems particularly true for europe, where progress has often come in this way. the second world war was the impetus for the european coal and steel community, which was established to prevent another war between france and germany. it formed the nucleus of today ’ s european union. the demise of the bretton woods system in the 1970s was the catalyst for a european single currency, which was eventually introduced in 1999. i ’ ll be talking today about the effects of the present crisis and the various challenges it has presented for the euro area. i ’ ll compare it with the east asian crisis of 1997. in my view, there are similarities that yield useful policy lessons for the euro area. but there are also differences that need to be kept in mind. what can we learn from the asian crisis? what are the parallels between the asian crisis in 1997 – 1998 and the euro area crisis? the economies of emerging asia were characterised by buoyant growth and a brisk expansion of credit ( see chart 1 ). this rise in debt was facilitated by considerable inflows of foreign capital, which financed significant external deficits ( see chart 2 ). this led to growing financial imbalances, and in particular to currency and maturity mismatches on the balance sheets of local banks. in addition, the economic boom prevailing at that time was accompanied by a loss of competitiveness of the region ’ s export sector. investors typically under - priced potential risks as they had overly optimistic expectations of the medium - term growth prospects. they did not identify systemic vulnerabilities such as the risk of sudden stops in capital flows or of twin