##worthy. the new banknotes include state - of - the - art security features, which will make the euro one of the world ’ s safest currencies. these features will provide reassurance : they will enable both the public and professional cash handlers to check the banknotes quickly and easily. the needs of blind and partially sighted people have also been carefully considered : they will be able to identify the banknotes with confidence. the seven euro banknotes differ in size and colour, and the value of the banknote is printed in large, bold numbers. this will make it easier for all of us to recognise the banknotes when they enter into circulation on 1 january 2002. ladies and gentlemen, this will be a watershed in europe ’ s history ; it will be a unique event that requires our fullest support. it is crucial that we, the european central bank and the twelve national central banks of the euro area, do our utmost to ensure that euro banknotes and coins are well received by the public. a rapid acceptance will very much depend on how well we communicate about our money with “ our ” public. the more effectively we communicate, the more we will convince europeans that europe is not some abstract and remote idea, but an immediate and dynamic reality. the quality of the information we provide will determine how well the public copes with the cash changeover and gets used to denominations that may differ from national ones. that ’ s why the governing council of the ecb has launched an information campaign. we have the support of publicis, a communication agency which we selected for this historic task, and the national central banks of the euro area, which are implementing the information campaign and also supplementing it with their own euro - related communications at the national level. our campaign covers the practical aspects of the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins. moreover, it is aimed not only at people inside the euro area, but also at those outside it, such as tourists, travellers as well as the citizens of countries where the predecessor currencies to the euro are used widely as parallel currencies. in order to reach such a broad public, the information campaign uses various groups and institutions as partners or “ multipliers ”. they include banks, retailers, educational institutions, the tourism industry and the media. i would like to highlight the key role these partners have played and are still playing. here in finland and in the rest of europe partners in the euro 2002 information campaign from

and loans is likely to remain weak also in the coming months. the continued steep yield curve fosters the allocation of funds into longer - term deposits and securities outside m3 and implies that actual m3 growth is weaker than the underlying pace of monetary expansion. at the same time, the narrow spreads between the interest rates paid on different m3 instruments imply low opportunity costs of holding funds in the most liquid components included in m1, which continued to grow at a robust annual rate of 10. 9 % in february. however, the monthly flows in the components of m3 were generally small in february, suggesting that the strong impact of the prevailing interest rate constellation may be progressively waning. the negative annual growth of bank loans to the private sector continues to conceal countervailing developments : positive, strengthening annual growth in loans to households on the one hand, and negative annual growth in loans to non - financial corporations on the other hand. at the same time, the flow of loans to firms in february was positive for the first time since august 2009 and halted the decline in the annual growth rate. such positive shortterm developments need to be assessed with caution, owing to the volatility in monthly data. in addition, it is a normal feature of the business cycle that loans to non - financial corporations remain weak for some time after economic activity has picked up. the reduction in the size of banks ’ overall balance sheets appears to have come to a halt in the early months of 2010. however, the challenge remains for them to manage possible further adjustments while at the same time ensuring the availability of credit to the nonfinancial sector. to address this challenge, banks should use the improved funding conditions to strengthen their capital bases further, and, where necessary, take full advantage of government support measures for recapitalisation. to sum up, the current key ecb interest rates remain appropriate. taking into account all the information and analyses that have become available since our meeting on 4 march 2010, price developments are expected to remain moderate over the policy - relevant horizon. the latest information has also confirmed that the economic recovery in the euro area continued in the early months of 2010. overall, the governing council expects the euro area economy to expand at a moderate pace in 2010, in an environment of uncertainty, with the growth pattern possibly being uneven owing to a number of special factors. a cross - check of the outcome of the economic analysis with that of the monetary analysis confirms the assessment of low inflationary pressures over the medium term. all