theodore mitrakos : normalisation of the monetary policy of major central banks and possible implications for the club members'economies - the case of greece speech by mr theodoros mitrakos, deputy governor of the bank of greece, at the 38th meeting of the central bank governors'club of the central asia, black sea region & balkan countries, bank of russia, moscow, 29 september 2017. * * * it is a great pleasure for me to be here with you today and have the opportunity to exchange thoughts on the potential impact of the normalisation of monetary policy in our respective economies. my intervention comprises three parts. part i provides an overview of non - standard monetary policy measures across the major central banks and looks at alternative paths to the normalisation of monetary policy. part ii sketches the benefits for greece from the accommodative monetary policy. part iii presents the recent economic developments in greece and some thoughts on the potential impact of monetary policy normalisation. part i : normalisation of monetary policy across the major central banks i. 1 an overview of non - standard monetary policy measures it has been almost 10 years since major central banks were forced to confront a worldwide financial crisis that ushered them into a new world of central banking. in response to the extraordinary environment, central banks have engaged in a range of ambitious unconventional / non - standard monetary policy measures, unprecedented in nature, scope and magnitude, including : large - scale asset purchases of government and private sector assets ; near - zero or negative policy rates ; forward guidance on both. asset purchases have resulted in a huge expansion of central bank balance sheets. since the onset of the crisis in 2007, the bank of england ’ s ( boe ) balance sheet has grown seven - fold ; the federal reserve ’ s ( fed ) five - fold, while that of the european central bank ( ecb ) has more than tripled. combined, the balance sheets of the fed, the bank of england and the ecb now exceed $ 15 trillion, equivalent to almost 45 percent of their gdp. 1 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches 2 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches i. 2 ecb measures : quantitative easing and other programmes the european central bank ( ecb ) began its large - scale purchases of assets later than its peers. in march 2015, the ecb increased the degree of monetary policy accommodation by adding public sector securities to its purchase programmes ( pspp ), which at the time encompassed covered bonds ( cbpp3 ) and asset

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