accurate, frequent and timely statistics on assets and liabilities of investment funds from early next year ( based on an ecb regulation adopted in july 2007 ) ; 3. compiling frequent, timely and harmonised statistics on insurance corporations and pension funds, which will become increasingly important in our ageing society ; 4. compiling comprehensive statistics on the securitisation of bank loans and the financial vehicle corporations which handle these securitisations, as well as improving the measurement of credit risk transfers, including credit default swaps, in close cooperation with bank supervisors ; 5. enhancing statistics on bank credit lines, bank balance sheets and interest rates on deposits and loans, for instance by gaining more insight into loan collateral ; and 6. looking at user requirements for micro - data, for example for household consumption and finance. in addition, the ecb has the following high - priority requirements concerning the euro area statistics compiled by eurostat and the nsis : 1. more comprehensive and timely statistics on services, labour markets and housing markets ; 2. better use of available data through the compilation of regular euro area supply and use tables and the integration of labour accounts into the national accounts, which see “ recent developments in consumers ’ inflation perceptions and expectations in the euro area ” in the november 2007 issue of the ecb ’ s monthly bulletin. are needed both for productivity and growth analysis and for updating the euklems data ; and 3. closer coordination of national statistics with regard to seasonal and working day adjustments, revision policies and release calendars. as regards the process innovations, the governing council of the ecb last year endorsed a long term vision for statistics produced by the eurosystem : • concerning input, the same data should be collected only once ; • concerning data processing, the eurosystem ’ s statistical function should operate as an efficient production network ; and • concerning output, the fitness for use of eurosystem statistics and statistical communications should be further enhanced. as regards the collection of data, the escb ’ s statistics committee ( stc ) and banking supervision committee ( bsc ) will, in cooperation with the committee of european banking supervisors, look at means of better aligning supervisory and statistical concepts, definitions and reporting formats, with the aim of reducing the reporting burden for financial institutions in the case of overlapping data requirements. the stc will also investigate the feasibility of reusing and sharing available micro - data for eurosystem statistical purposes – particularly data contained in central credit registers, central balance sheet offices and

a large extent the stimulative effect of the very low level of interest rates. against the background of subdued domestic inflationary pressures, and with inflation expectations for the euro area as a whole solidly anchored at levels in line with price stability, the governing council concluded during the first half of 2005 that it remained appropriate to keep interest rates at their historically low levels. at the same time, it emphasised that the cross - checking of the economic analysis with the monetary analysis supported the case for continued vigilance with regard to the materialisation of risks to price stability over the medium to longer term. in the second half of 2005, economic activity gradually strengthened and hicp inflation rates rose to levels significantly above 2 %, peaking at 2. 6 % in september, mainly as a result of rising energy prices. in addition, it became increasingly apparent that the upward shift in oil prices would be protracted. accordingly, in the course of the second half of 2005, the likelihood that average annual hicp inflation would remain above 2 % over the medium term increased. moreover, this scenario of elevated inflation rates remained subject to previously identified upside risks posed by possible further increases in oil prices, a stronger pass - through of past oil price increases, additional rises in administered prices and indirect taxes, and potential second - round effects in wage and price - setting. furthermore, the monetary analysis continued to point towards increasing upside risks to price stability over the medium to longer term. monetary growth gained momentum in the third quarter of 2005 and credit expansion to the private sector remained very robust. consequently, in the second half of 2005 the governing council expressed increasing concern about upside risks to price stability and emphasised the need for strong vigilance with regard to these risks and developments in longer - term inflation expectations. indeed, by december a first adjustment of the very accommodative stance of monetary policy was clearly warranted. in view of the risks to price stability that had been identified in the economic analysis and confirmed by cross - checking with the monetary analysis, the governing council decided on 1 december to increase the key ecb interest rates by 25 basis points, after having kept them unchanged for two and a half years at the historically low level of 2 %. turning next to more recent developments and assessments, in early march 2006 the outlook for growth and inflation over the medium term that had emerged at the time of the december 2005 decision was confirmed by the incoming data. hicp inflation rates were expected to remain above 2 %