moves, the ecb has put almost €1 trillion into circulation. that ’ s inflationary, surely? draghi : the banks to which the ecb has lent the money have, by and large, not fed this into the economic cycle but have used it to meet old liabilities. so the money in terms of inflation has, so to speak, been neutralised. this action is not inflationary. and we will watch very carefully if and how the money is fed into the economic cycle. bild : but the head of germany ’ s bundesbank, jens weidmann, has issued a sharp warning about this flood of money. draghi : i get on very well with jens weidmann both professionally and personally. our difference of opinion has been blown up. bis central bankers ’ speeches bild : was he exaggerating? draghi : he is a typical central banker, like all of us. we like to worry about things that nobody else worries about. and of course there are risks and side effects if you use such a strong drug, such as the almost €1 trillion of central bank money. it was right of jens weidmann to point that out and i agree with him. bild : is there a rift between north and south in the governing council? draghi : no, there is no divide between north and south. all members of the governing council have taken to heart germany ’ s stability culture. the time of conflicts is over. but let me also say that the situation in the autumn was really critical. it could have led to a dangerous credit crunch at the banks and thus to bankruptcies ; companies would have suddenly been left sitting high and dry financially. we had to prevent that. bild : and the banks are doing nicely out of it, right? draghi : the ecb ’ s money has got to the right places. in germany alone, 460 banks participated in the action, many more than usual. so it wasn ’ t just the acutely suffering banks, but also many others, many of them small. that particularly helps the small and medium - sized companies that account for 70 % of all jobs in europe. bild : this all sounds very optimistic. is the euro then a safe currency? draghi : yes, it is. bild : is the crisis over? draghi : the worst is over, but there are also still risks. the situation is stabilising. the key data for the

’ s monthly bulletin. see http : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / pub / pdf / other / ecbstatisticsqualityframework200804en. pdf. see http : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / stats / html / pcstats. en. html. both this commitment and the framework governing the quality of ecb statistics take due account of the european statistics code of practice for the national and community statistical authorities, while also reflecting the specific governance structure of the escb. compilation and dissemination of statistical information. similarly, the treaty states that compilers of statistics in the nsis and eurostat should also act in full scientific independence. in addition to these essential preconditions, statistics also need to be adequately explained. this applies, in particular, to one of the most important statistics for the ecb ’ s monetary policy making, namely the harmonised index of consumer prices ( hicp ). it is a well - known fact that the qualitative responses to the european commission ’ s monthly consumer survey on inflation perceptions tended to indicate an upward trend following the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins in 2002, while the hicp exhibited a fairly stable rate of change. 10 perceptions of inflation then tended to moderate, with renewed increases being observed as of mid - 2007, increases which on that occasion coincided with a rise in the annual hicp inflation rate. however useful this perception indicator is, it should be borne in mind that perceptions may be based on a partial inflation concept that places too much weight on frequent and out - of - pocket purchases such as food and petrol – for which above - average price increases have been observed – and does not take full account of other less frequent purchases and quality improvements. if only for that reason, the hicp inflation rate, which is derived from no less than 1. 7 million price observations in 200, 000 shops throughout the euro area every month gives an objective representation of the evolution of prices. the strategy for the further development of euro area statistics the ecb ’ s vision for euro area statistics envisages both product and process innovations. the former include the closing, in the near future, of some of the remaining gaps in the ecb ’ s statistics. this will involve : 1. enhancing the timeliness, completeness and consistency of the quarterly euro area accounts, so that they become available within 90 days of the end of the reference period ; 2. compiling more