was bulging, markets concluded that interest rates would change ; if it was thin, they concluded that no change was likely. in the end, such ways of gauging what the central bank is up to are quite unreliable. markets might easily draw the wrong conclusions and this might lead to unwanted volatility and turbulence. that is one of the reasons why today, almost everyone agrees that central banks need to be transparent. it helps them to steer the expectations of markets and make their policies more effective. at the same time, it helps them be more accountable. both of these things have become even more important against the backdrop of our unconventional measures. so we need to communicate very carefully on our next steps. we must help markets get an idea of what the exit will look like. and we mustn ’ t confuse them with vague or ambiguous ideas. we have to strike a delicate balance. and in my view, we need to find this balance now. as of today, it is clear which sequence the exit will follow. bond purchases will come to an end, while interest rates will remain low, well past the horizon of net asset purchases. but we still need to decide on a timeframe. from my point of view, it is important that we really move towards the exit – step by step, but steadily and in a clear direction. conclusion ladies and gentlemen, i began by saying that the days of “ boring ” central banking are over. and i do hope that i have shown that to be true. what is safe to say, though, is that central banks have stepped into the limelight and become a focal point of public debate. and it is a controversial debate. some argue that the ecb handled the crisis well. others are much more critical. who is right? today i have argued that, given the low inflation, monetary policy needed to be expansive. admittedly, the appropriate degree of expansion and the necessary tools are moot points. in any case, we must bear in mind that some of the ecb ’ s more unconventional tools also have side effects. and these side effects will grow in magnitude the longer the tools are used. so, the future holds the final answer to our question of whether monetary policy was optimally calibrated. if we manage to put the unconventional tools back into the box when the time comes, we will be able to claim that the ecb successfully achieved its objective. and in my view, this time has come. we need to

and the banks got into trouble. in that situation, the ecb pledged to do “ whatever it takes within its mandate ” to preserve the euro. it announced that it would stand ready to buy government bonds of specific countries. this programme was termed omt, short for outright monetary transactions. it was subject to strict conditions, of course ; i will spare you the details. right from the start, the omt programme was described as a game changer. it restored trust in the euro area and, as a result, there was actually no need to activate it. but the euro area was still caught in a recession, and growth slowed even further. the crisis had entered its third phase. as the economy slowed down, inflation fell. to revive it, the ecb cut interest rates twice in 2013, to a new low of 0. 25 %. but, in the following year, inflation declined further and even fell below 0 % in december 2014. among other things, this was due to a fall in oil prices. it became clear that the ecb needed to do more. it had to prevent low inflation from becoming entrenched or even turning into deflation. but what could be done? with interest rates close to zero, the standard tools were only of limited use. the ecb ’ s governing council thus decided to take three non - standard measures. first, it broke through the zero lower bound of interest rates. in june 2014, the deposit rate was set to – 0. 10 %. this gave banks an incentive to stop depositing their money at the ecb and pushed them to lend it to the real economy instead. at the same time, the ecb ’ s decision made clear to the markets that interest rates can fall below zero. markets adjusted their expectations about future interest rates, and this caused long - term interest rates to fall as well. second, the ecb provided longer - term refinancing to banks at very low rates. the amount that banks can borrow is linked to their loans to private companies and households. this should stimulate bank lending to the real economy, and make it easier for private companies and consumers to take out loans. and third, the ecb used the tool of quantitative easing. since march 2015, it has bought more than €2 trillion worth of public and private assets. among other things, this brings down long - term interest rates via various channels. at the same time, ecb made it clear that it is committed