duration of restriction. in particular, our interest rate decisions will be based on our assessment of the inflation outlook in light of the incoming economic and financial data, the dynamics of underlying inflation, and the strength of monetary policy transmission. the decisions taken today are set out in a press release available on our website. i will now outline in more detail how we see the economy and inflation developing and will then explain our assessment of financial and monetary conditions. economic activity 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches the economy is likely to remain subdued in the coming months. it broadly stagnated over the first half of the year, and recent indicators suggest it has also been weak in the third quarter. lower demand for the euro area's exports and the impact of tight financing conditions are dampening growth, including through lower residential and business investment. the services sector, which had so far been resilient, is now also weakening. over time, economic momentum should pick up, as real incomes are expected to rise, supported by falling inflation, rising wages and a strong labour market, and this will underpin consumer spending. the labour market has so far remained resilient despite the slowing economy. the unemployment rate stayed at its historical low of 6. 4 per cent in july. while employment grew by 0. 2 per cent in the second quarter, momentum is slowing. the services sector, which has been a major driver of employment growth since mid - 2022, is now also creating fewer jobs. as the energy crisis fades, governments should continue to roll back the related support measures. this is essential to avoid driving up medium - term inflationary pressures, which would otherwise call for an even stronger monetary policy response. fiscal policies should be designed to make our economy more productive and to gradually bring down high public debt. policies to enhance the euro area's supply capacity – which would be supported by the full implementation of the next generation eu programme – can help reduce price pressures in the medium term, while supporting the green transition. the reform of the eu's economic governance framework should be concluded before the end of this year and progress towards capital markets union should be accelerated. inflation inflation declined to 5. 3 per cent in july but remained at that level in august, according to eurostat's flash estimate. its decline was interrupted because energy prices rose compared with july. food price inflation has come down from its peak in march but was still almost 10 per cent in august. in the coming months, the

benoit cœure : towards a macroprudential framework for central counterparties introductory remarks by mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at a policy panel discussion on the progress with new macroprudential instruments at the esrb conference on macroprudential margins and haircuts, frankfurt am main, 6 june 2016. * * * ladies and gentlemen, i would like to thank the european systemic risk board ( esrb ) for organising this event and inviting me to chair this panel. i will make a few brief remarks before handing over to our distinguished group of speakers. i do not intend to talk about the development of new macroprudential instruments – i will leave this to our panellists. instead, i will try to set the stage by saying a few words about central counterparties ( ccps ), as they are very much in the spotlight when it comes to debates about the future of macroprudential policy. the strong regulatory push towards central clearing in recent years has clearly helped improve the safety and stability of the financial system. among the many well - known advantages of central clearing are the reduction in counterparty credit risk, and the simplification of the network of exposures through multilateral netting and risk sharing, which also comes with a more efficient use of collateral. default risk, no longer being dispersed thinly across the global financial system1, is better pooled and monitored. at the same time, the drive towards central clearing has made ccps key nodes for propagating risk in the system2. given the central role ccps play in the financial system and the potential effects their risk management can have on the economic cycle, it has become increasingly important to consider ccps not only from a microprudential but also from a macroprudential perspective. therefore, the discussion about macroprudential policy, previously almost exclusively referred to in the context of banks, is now being expanded to include ccps. indeed, the committee on payments and market infrastructures ( cpmi ) and the international organization of securities commissions ( iosco ) already considered some of these aspects when they published in 2012 the principles for financial market infrastructures ( pfmi ) 3, for instance by requiring ccps to adopt stable - through - the - cycle margin practices and collateral haircuts. before turning to the more recent work of the cpmi and iosco in this area, allow me to recall two important general considerations