european central bank : press conference - introductory statement introductory statement by mr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank and mr lucas papademos, vice - president of the european central bank, at the press conference held in frankfurt, 6 march 2003. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i will report on the outcome of today's meeting of the governing council of the ecb. we have comprehensively reviewed monetary, financial and economic developments today. we concluded that the outlook for price stability over the medium term has improved in recent months, owing in particular to the subdued pace of economic growth and the appreciation of the exchange rate of the euro. as a result, the governing council has decided to lower the key ecb interest rates by 25 basis points. let me explain our assessment of recent economic developments in more detail. as regards the analysis under the first pillar of our monetary policy strategy, the three - month average of the annual growth rates of m3 was 7. 1 % in the period from november 2002 to january 2003, compared with 6. 9 % in the period from october to december 2002. the continued strong monetary growth reflects an ongoing pronounced preference for liquidity in an environment of high financial, economic and geopolitical uncertainty. although liquidity remains ample, it is not expected at this stage to give rise to inflationary pressures, given the current economic context and the expectation that some of the portfolio shifts will be reversed once the financial market uncertainty diminishes. recent data on loans to the private sector, notably the weak growth in loans to non - financial corporations in late 2002, confirm this assessment. turning to the analysis under the second pillar, available data and surveys indicate that economic activity in the euro area remained sluggish in late 2002 and in the first months of 2003. in light of recent developments, the outlook for economic growth in the euro area in 2003 has weakened compared with previous expectations, owing especially to the geopolitical tensions and the associated rise in oil prices. accordingly, only a very modest rate of economic growth should now be expected this year. considering price developments, according to eurostat, annual hicp inflation is estimated to have been 2. 3 % in february 2003, slightly up from 2. 2 % in january. the main factor behind this change seems to be the rise in oil prices. in addition, some base effects related to food prices may have contributed to the renewed increase in annual inflation in february. the ongoing

yves mersch : interview in hospodarske noviny interview with mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, in hospodarske noviny, conducted by ms kristina votrubova on 11 january 2019. * * * there are rumours about the ecb´s plans to raise interest rates, however there are also voices that it is not a good idea, as the situation is changing. what is the ecb´s position? the ecb ’ s position is that we will continue with our policy of monetary accommodation for as long as necessary. we are confident that what we have done is helping us to get inflation in line with our objective at levels below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. so no date has been established for raising the interest rates. we never announce in advance how, when or by how much we intend to use different instruments. that is not how central banks work. we give broad forward guidance on the direction of our monetary policy. but we always look at incoming information and evaluate whether it is in line with how we expected the economy to behave. what is currently happening to the economy is still broadly in line with our baseline scenario. we had already anticipated a slowdown in growth when we announced these baselines. now that the slowdown is materialising, we do not have to take it into account for a second time in our policy response. fundamentals have not changed but political uncertainty has increased. slovakia would need interest rates to rise as household debt is increasing alarmingly. what is the ecb ’ s view of the situation in slovakia? first, we conduct monetary policy for the euro area as a whole rather than for individual countries. second, if we raised interest rates to curb household debt, the effect would also impact the corporate sector and investment. that is why there are macroprudential instruments at the disposal of national authorities. and i have seen that the competent authorities in slovakia, including the national central bank, have taken action to tackle the dynamic rise of household debt. i think once you have put such instruments into action, you would like to see also what the effect of these instruments is. do they work as is expected? and, as i have been told, there seems to be a positive reaction. in the majority of european countries, the economic cycle has already reached its peak and the euro area economy is slowing down. how does the ecb view the situation and what are