to government bonds in certain jurisdictions no longer being considered a safe asset. stijn, along with markus brunnermeier and others propose a framework for a safe asset for the euro area. the proposal is to use a synthetic security build with sovereign debt of all countries and tranched, which, if created and accepted by the market, would provide a safer asset that banks could use to substitute sovereign debt of a particular country. 8 all the references i made illustrate how good research is the foundation of good policy. that is why the ecb dedicates significant resources to research, but also to its exchanges with academia. last april, we held our first annual macroprudential policy and research conference which was, on this occasion, jointly organised with the imf. in september, we also had our first annual research conference, which brings together senior researchers from a wide range of 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches areas. of course, there have been many other conferences and workshops held at the ecb since it was founded 18 years ago, but not on this scale. in addition to such events, which foster exchanges between distinguished scholars and the ecb, each year we give leading academics an opportunity to gain insights into the policymaking environment of the ecb through our wim duisenberg research fellowship programme. for younger researchers we have established a summer research graduate programme enabling graduate scholars close to finishing their phd to temporarily join our research department. further, our lamfalussy fellowship encourages younger researchers to conduct high - quality research into the structure, integration and performance of the european financial system. but i hasten to add that the ecb, like the central banking community in general, relies for most of its research progress on brilliant scholars such as stijn van nieuwerburgh. i hope it has become evident from my remarks how timely and seminal stijn ’ s intellectual pursuits have been. they mark significant contributions to the new field of macroprudential policy by emphasising the importance of housing markets and shedding light on its driving factors. from a policy perspective, stijn ’ s research stresses the importance of borrower - based macroprudential measures and the role of capital inflows. this calls for proper co - ordination across european countries, which is embedded in european legislation. his academic work is notably relevant for the review of the eu macroprudential policy framework that is underway, carried out by the european commission – e. g.

had an impact. an improvement in the economic situation in the euro area may also have contributed. although the krone has appreciated somewhat thus far in 2014, it is still clearly weaker than at the beginning of 2013. chart 8 : consumer prices in norway inflation has increased. as measured by the cpi - ate, inflation averaged 2. 5 percent in the first quarter of 2014. the krone depreciation has contributed to a faster rise in prices for imported consumer goods. prices for domestically produced goods and services also rose at a faster pace in 2013, at just below 3 percent in the latter half of the year. the rise in house rents and food prices through 2013 partly reflects a revision of the calculation method for these goods items in the cpi. in the coming months, inflation is projected to edge down, partly reflecting the unwinding of temporary effects. underlying inflation is now estimated to be between 2 percent and 2½ percent, which is one percentage point higher than one year earlier. chart 9 : norges bank ’ s key policy rate projections saving, investment and spending decisions are influenced by expectations concerning future interest rates. communication on the future course of monetary policy, including the publication of key policy forecasts, therefore plays an important role. even though the key policy rate has been kept unchanged, norges bank ’ s forecasts for the key policy rate ahead were revised down through 2013. the downward revision of the key policy rate forecasts primarily reflects lower growth forecasts for the norwegian economy. there are also prospects that wage growth will be somewhat lower than envisaged earlier. growth among our trading partners and interest rates abroad have been somewhat lower than projected one year earlier. at the same time, banks ’ lending margins are somewhat higher than expected. chart 10 : inflation and capacity utilisation the analyses in the latest monetary policy report published in march suggested that the key policy rate should be held at today ’ s level in the period to summer 2015, followed by a bis central bankers ’ speeches gradual increase. with such a path for the key policy rate, there are prospects that inflation will be slightly below, but close to 2. 5 percent throughout the projection period. capacity utilisation may edge down over the next year and thereafter move up to close to a normal level. chart 11 : household debt and house prices monetary policy aims to be robust by, among other things, taking into account the uncertainty associated with economic driving forces and the functioning of the economy. in addition, in the conduct of