guy quaden : the national bank of belgium - a century and a half of belgian and european history introductory statement by mr guy quaden, governor of the national bank of belgium, at a symposium on the history of the national bank of belgium, brussels, 22 november 2005. * * * ladies and gentlemen, when belgium celebrated its 175th anniversary, the national bank naturally joined in. thus, we sponsored an exhibition on “ la belgique visionnaire ”, and today we are publishing a book on the history of the bank, together with a set of detailed articles on the period 1940 – 1971. the history of the bank is closely intertwined with that of the belgian state. however, while the kingdom of belgium is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, the bank is only – might i say – celebrating its 155th birthday. during the first twenty years of belgium ’ s existence, banknotes were issued by several private banks, mainly the societe generale, founded in 1822 under the orangist regime, and its principal rival, the banque de belgique, established in 1835. the financial crisis of 1848 led to the imposition of the ‘ compulsory rate ’ – i. e. the suspension of the right to exchange banknotes for precious metals – and paralysis of the discount credit system. at this time, a young, dynamic politician, walthere frere - orban, was appointed as minister of finance. drawing radical conclusions from the situation, he took action against the two big mixed banks which were monopolising financial power in the country. he forced them to amend their statutes, renouncing their right of issue together with certain discount activities in favour of a new institution, the national bank. by way of consolation, when the national bank was launched, the two big banks became the sole shareholders in the new company, established in the form of a private limited liability company. all the same, at the time of its establishment the national bank was not the mere puppet of the big private banks. thus, the governor, the linchpin of the system, was appointed by the king and the government also nominated a commissioner, making the institution different from its counterparts in neighbouring countries. in return for the right of issue, the state also received a substantial part of the bank ’ s revenue. the national bank has never been quite like other financial institutions or limited companies. minister frere - orban, addressing parliament in 1850, made the following statement which i have

governor ’ s notes on the inflation expectations of households prepared for the discussion at the general council meeting on 26 september 2024 ales michl good morning, president lagarde, dear colleagues. let me give you an insight into how we ( at the cnb ) approach the inflation expectations of households. methodology we have data on the short - term ( 12 - month ) inflation expectations of households from monthly business and consumer surveys. the surveys have been conducted for the czech statistical office and the european commission by data collect, a market research company. the survey is conducted via telephone interviews, using a sample of 1, 000 randomly selected households. since august 2015, we have numerical estimates of : 1. expected inflation : respondents are asked, “ how do you think consumer prices will develop in the next 12 months compared to the previous 12 months? ” 2. perceived inflation : respondents are asked, “ how much do you think consumer prices have changed over the past 12 months? please estimate in per cent. ” inflation expectations : households vs. financial market analysts and business managers inflation expectations in the czech republic ( 12 - month horizon, % ) households financial market analysts business managers ( quarterly survey ) inflation target ( 2 % ) source : czech national bank, data collect across the entire sample, households consistently expected higher inflation than business managers and financial market analysts. this can be observed in most countries. households ’ inflation expectations were above the inflation target of 2 % even before inflation began to rise. on the other hand, analysts and business managers had stable expectations before the pandemic, anchored at 2 %. actual, perceived and expected inflation cpi inflation inflation perceived by households inflation expected by households ( 12 months ahead ) inflation target ( 2 % ) source : data collect, czech statistical office both expected and perceived inflation were higher than actual inflation ; perceived inflation was more than twice as high as published inflation at the peak of the inflation wave in 2022. monetary policy response in the 2nd half of 2022, when i became governor cpi inflation inflation perceived by households inflation expected by households ( 12 months ahead ) cnb repo rate ( % ) inflation target ( 2 % ) source : data collect, czech statistical office i became governor in july 2022. at that time, actual inflation was 17. 5 %, the key interest rate was 7 %, perceived inflation was 35 % and inflation expected in 12 months was 27 %. the textbook approach prescribes that the central bank should keep raising key interest rates. when