25 % for the main refinancing rate, 0. 00 % for the rate on the deposit facility and 0. 75 % for the rate on the marginal lending facility. we also extended our pledge to guarantee full liquidity provision at a fixed rate to our counterparties against eligible collateral for as long as needed and at least until july 2015. we are resolute in our determination to maintain a high degree of monetary accommodation, given expectations of a prolonged period of low inflation, to be followed by a gradual upward movement towards levels closer to 2 %. we are ready to act swiftly if needed, and the governing council has stated unanimously its “ commitment to using also unconventional instruments within our mandate to cope effectively with the risks of a too prolonged period of low inflation. ” key developments towards banking union by putting in place and finalising legislative and practical steps towards banking union, 2013 marked a quantum leap in european integration. today, not even two years after the eu heads of state or government committed to build a genuine banking union, the two cornerstones of this ambitious project – the single supervision mechanism ( ssm ) and the single resolution mechanism ( srm ) – are in place. the ssm will create genuine european supervision, requiring the ecb to take responsibility for ensuring that the european banking sector is sound and safe. in the process of establishing the ssm, we need to further restore the health of the banking sector and confidence in it, thereby creating the conditions for a revival of credit provision to the real economy. the ecb ’ s comprehensive assessment is designed for this purpose. at the ecb, we are very conscious of the huge responsibility that we have been asked to shoulder, and this exercise will be executed in a credible and consistent manner. let me assure you that we will under no circumstances compromise the rigour of the comprehensive assessment. as regards the srm, we welcome the political agreement that was reached on 20 march 2014. the intense negotiations between the co - legislators produced an srm that is more efficient, more credible and more european. the european parliament undoubtedly played a decisive role in achieving this outcome. let me highlight three aspects of the agreement that the ecb deems particularly important. first, we had insisted all along on the need for adequate funding for the single resolution bis central bankers ’ speeches fund ( srf ). we therefore welcome the fact that the srf will be mutualised faster and that the pace of mutualisation will be significantly frontloaded. taken together

area was inflation. through a gradual stabilisation of the exchange rate, disinflationary interest rate and fiscal policies, and the abandonment of wage and contract indexation, we managed to bring inflation down from almost 10 % in 2000 to just above 2 % in 2006. interest rates had also fallen substantially. this brings us to the second important point. conditions for borrowing of government and banks on international markets and credit conditions for business and households have improved significantly. we could observe something similar in croatia in previous years. these favourable developments also bring risks. better access to international financial markets has contributed to a strong credit expansion in slovenia, which was also supported by the strong growth of domestic construction sector, financing of corporate acquisitions and global economic upturn. following the global financial crisis and the drying up of liquidity in the interbank market, our banking system found itself in difficulties. the circumstances surrounding croatia's adoption of the euro are also a challenge of their own. however, bank regulation and supervision have been substantially upgraded in the last decade. macro - prudential policy tools are also more developed these days. ( iii ) the third important issue is the macroeconomic effects of the euro. given the proximity of eu accession and the adoption of the euro in slovenia, the effects of these two events are intertwined. that period of euro adoption was marked also by a strong global economic upturn, which was reflected in rising prices. croatia's adoption of the euro took place in an economically and geopolitically turbulent environment, at a time of the highest inflation in advanced economies in the last four decades. the confluence of different factors complicates the assessment of the impacts of euro adoption. 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches in generally, adoption of the euro by a small economy brings higher price transparency and competition, lowers transaction and borrowing costs, reduces currency risks and makes it easier for domestic firms to do business in foreign markets. in both countries, the introduction of the euro was accompanied by concerns about price increases. analysis for slovenia shows that consumer prices increased by around 0. 3 percentage points in the first months after the introduction of the euro. price rounding was an important contributing factor. this may not be consistent with people's perception. a marked increase in the prices of goods with a lower nominal value that we consume on a daily basis can give the impression of an overall price increase. the so - called » espresso effect « has also been observed in croatia in