agricultural policy is welcomed, as are the efforts to limit upward pressure on agricultural prices through biofuels policies. a successful conclusion of the doha round of world trade negotiations should also help to improve the functioning of global trade in general and of agricultural markets in europe and worldwide in particular. tax policies are not an appropriate means to counter commodity price increases, be it oil or nonoil commodities, as this would send wrong signals to producers and consumers alike and would distort markets. we are now at your disposal for questions.

to inflationary pressures. the pricing power of firms, particularly in market segments with low competition, such as parts of the services sector, may prove stronger than currently expected. moreover, higher than expected wage growth may emerge, taking into account high capacity utilisation, tight labour market conditions and the risk of second - round effects. the governing council is monitoring wage negotiations and price - setting behaviour in the euro area with particular attention. against this background, it is imperative to secure that medium to longer - term inflation expectations remain firmly anchored in line with price stability. all parties concerned, in both the private and the public sector, must meet their responsibilities. wage - setting needs to take into account productivity developments, the still high level of unemployment in many economies, and price competitiveness positions. moderate labour cost increases are particularly necessary in countries which have lost price competitiveness in recent years. broadly based second - round effects stemming from the impact of higher energy and food prices on price and wage - setting behaviour must be avoided. in this context, the governing council is concerned about the existence of schemes in which nominal wages are indexed to consumer prices. such schemes involve the risk of upward shocks in inflation leading to a wage - price spiral, which would be detrimental to employment and competitiveness in the countries concerned. the governing council therefore calls for such schemes to be avoided. the monetary analysis confirms the prevailing upside risks to price stability at medium to longer - term horizons. annual m3 growth remained very vigorous in april, supported by the continued strong growth of mfi loans to the private sector. while the impact of the flat yield curve and other temporary factors suggest that annual m3 growth continues to overstate the underlying pace of monetary expansion, nonetheless, even after taking such effects into account, a broad - based assessment of the latest data confirms that the underlying rate of money and credit growth remains strong. annual m1 growth has continued to moderate in recent months, reflecting higher short - term interest rates which have encouraged further shifts from overnight into time deposits. the moderation in the growth of household borrowing also reflects the dampening impact of higher short - term interest rates, as well as cooling housing markets in several parts of the euro area. however, the growth of loans to non - financial corporations has remained very robust. while some moderation can be expected in the future in the light of tightening financing conditions and slower economic growth, bank borrowing by euro area non - financial corporations grew at an annual rate of 14. 9 % in april 2008