payment on ibrc ’ s promissory notes. as you will recall, an interim solution was applied to that instalment, which was effectively settled with a long - term government bond rather than cash. while this was not altogether an ideal solution from anyone ’ s point of view, seeking a non - cash solution for that instalment was a sound tactic for the government, embarking as it was on the larger question of rearranging the duration and terms of the overall central bank indebtedness arising out of the failure of anglo irish bank and inbs and the payment of their creditors. since then, there has been a very intensive process of discussion and negotiation on this matter, which is one of the two main thrusts of the government ’ s policy to have a euro area review of the indebtedness arising out of the banking crisis. there is considerable goodwill from all interlocutors in this process. nevertheless, it has not been easy to find a generally acceptable solution. taking into account both the statutory position and wider policy stance of the ecb, an initiative of this type will be novel and as such challenging. using our knowledge of central banking law and practice, we have been working carefully to build understanding and confidence around a set of proposed transactions designed to deliver for ireland, while not taking other decision makers too far out of their comfort zone. the ecb is an organisation that seeks to proceed as far as possible by consensus, and it is not surprising that this work has been taking quite a while. in fact, what we have designed is, i believe, largely in the interests of the eurosystem as a whole. i have nothing to add today to what has already been said by the minister for finance about the prospects and timing of the conclusion to these discussions. i am happy to take any questions you might have. bis central bankers ’ speeches

sabine lautenschlager : interview with market news interview with ms sabine lautenschlager, member of the executive board of the european central bank, and market news, conducted by mr luke heighton on 28 august 2019 and published on 30 august 2019. * * * the account of last month ’ s monetary policy meeting of the governing council showed the ecb has become more pessimistic in its assessment of the eurozone growth and inflation outlook over the longer term, to the extent that the baseline growth scenario may need to be revised. how worried are you? there is, indeed, some increasing uncertainty based in particular on political shocks such as the trade tensions and brexit. also in germany there is a downward trend in the manufacturing sector. but we also see signals of strengths in the euro area, for instance positive trends in the labour market and a resilience of the overall domestic growth. the account appears to suggest – or at least i took from it – that a majority of members in the governing council do favour the introduction of a package of measures, such as a combination of rate cuts, asset purchases and tiering, rather than a selective sequence of options. would that be your preference? in my opinion, based on the current data, it is much too early for a huge package. and i am still convinced that the asset purchase programme ( app ) is the ultima ratio, and it should only be used if you have a risk of deflation ; and the risk of deflation is nowhere to be seen now. furthermore, i am concerned about setting the wrong incentives for governments if we were to re - start the app and buy further government bonds. what is needed are structural reforms to foster sustainable growth. and you always have to ask yourself what kind of impact restarting the app would bring. we are already in negative yield territory for many government bonds. we also need to consider how big the purchase universe is when keeping the current purchase limits. and keeping the limits is for me of utmost importance to address the risk of monetary financing. there has been a lot in ecb communications of late, and elsewhere, about the perceived need for fiscal authorities to do their part to boost growth and inflation. do you think there is a trade - off between convincing certain governments to provide fiscal stimulus and the ecb embarking on deeper negative interest rates? equally, if there is to be an interest rate cut on september 12, does it follow that there has to