and the international finance corporation. my personal observations show that many of us, in asia, could study and learn from the public policies in mauritius relating to high coverage and quality of primary education, efficient delivery of health services and protection of environment. yes, we have a lot to learn from each other and there are many areas in which we can cooperate. the two central banks will, i am sure, strengthen the traditional ties. we will carry forward a continuous dialogue to strengthen cooperation between the bank of mauritius and the reserve bank of india. as a reciprocal gesture, let me extend an open and standing invitation to governor bheenick to visit india soon and, in addition, participate in the celebrations of 75th anniversary of the reserve bank, which is due soon in a couple of years from now. thank you all, ladies and gentlemen.

pass - through has remained roughly stable and intact. [ 15 ] our economists estimate that a 1 % rise in wage costs in germany increases consumer prices by around 0. 3 %. but the analysis also shows that the transmission can take several years. with that in mind, the slow strengthening of inflation shouldn ’ t really come as a surprise to us. an ecb study suggests that this is also the case for other major euro area economies. in a low inflation setting, the transmission could even take longer than under normal circumstances. the governing council has deliberately geared its policy aim towards the medium term without further specification. this allows us to take lags into account, such as the passthrough from wages to prices. our strategy also gives us the leeway not to respond to every slight revision in the inflation outlook mechanistically or even with full force, as long as the overall trajectory is still intact and the relevant inflation expectations remain anchored. but it is also true that near the effective lower bound of interest rates, fiscal policy is less at risk of crowding out private demand. under current conditions, this makes it a potentially powerful instrument if economic developments were to take a marked turn for the worse – which, just to be clear, is not what is generally expected. 5 conclusion ladies and gentlemen, dennis gabor, the british physicist who invented holography and won the nobel prize in 1971, noted that the future cannot be predicted, but it can be created. it is worth investigating which monetary policy approaches allow the eurosystem to respond vigorously in an economic downturn. but these policies have to be evaluated carefully in light of both potential benefits and costs. in my short remarks today, i have only been able to highlight a few issues on forward guidance. i fully agree with christine lagarde. the monetary policy strategy should always evolve in a way that best serves our mandate. [ 18 ] since our strategy has been in place since 2003, it may be worth collecting lessons from the financial crisis and the more recent past at the appropriate time. in my view, this should include, among other things, the question how to handle long - term risks to price stability arising from financial imbalances. as claudio borio once warned us, economic lessons “ are learnt, forgotten, re - learnt and forgotten again ”. laplace ’ s demon would know better. thank you for your attention. footnotes : 1. laplace, p. - s. ( 1814 ).