rates, tighter credit supply conditions and lower demand. our latest bank lending survey reported a tightening of overall credit standards, which was stronger than banks had expected in the previous round and suggests that lending may weaken further. weak lending has meant that money growth has also continued to decline. conclusion summing up, the inflation outlook continues to be too high for too long. in light of the ongoing high inflation pressures, the governing council today decided to raise the three key ecb interest rates by 25 basis points. overall, the incoming information broadly supports the assessment of the medium - term inflation outlook that we formed at our previous meeting. headline inflation has declined over recent months, but underlying price pressures remain strong. at the same time, our past rate increases are being transmitted forcefully to euro area financing and monetary conditions, while the lags and strength of transmission to the real economy remain uncertain. our future decisions will ensure that the policy rates will be brought to levels sufficiently restrictive to achieve a timely return of inflation to our two per cent medium - term target and will be kept at those levels for as long as necessary. we will continue to follow a data - dependent approach to determining the appropriate level and duration of restriction. in particular, our policy rate decisions will continue to 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. 3 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches in any case, we stand ready to adjust all of our instruments within our mandate to ensure that inflation returns to our medium - term target and to preserve the smooth functioning of monetary policy transmission. we are now ready to take your questions. 4 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches

a time lag of over one year – therefore, they are not only incapable of mitigating the current situation, but they may also bring about unwarranted aggravating effects in the future, when the economy will have actually recovered to its normal situation. the concept of providing financial stability does not differ a lot from the logic of maintaining macroeconomic stability. in such a case, the saying “ prevent rather than recover ” bears a significant importance, considering the high costs accompanying the financial crisis. the rapid lending and financial activity expansion of the banking system over the recent years, despite its positive aspect of boosting the economic growth, has also increased the pressure of being more alert in monitoring and maintaining the financial stability. regardless of the rigorous implementation of the best monitoring practices, the rapid growth and expansion are always characterized by elements of risk, which in normal situations are inclined to be underestimated or pass unobserved, in particular in a system level. therefore, the methodologies to be discussed over these two days will come to help the identification of such risks and take the proper measures timely. the methods to be introduced and discussed in this seminar are numerous, varying from non - parametrical to sophisticated modelling and econometric methods. despite their complexity, each of them is presented with their own pros and cons. our purpose is to establish and apply a wide packet of warning instruments, so as to minimize the errors deriving from the assumptions and various methodologies used. this packet will be a complement to the wide measures that we are considering to implement in the further enhancement of supervision, in order to anticipate the situations relating to the maintenance and consolidation of the financial stability. wishing you good proceedings, thank you!