. and elliot, d “ mean and modal bank rate expectations, ” blog available on http : / / bankunderground. co. uk / evans, c. fisher, j. gourio, f and krane, s ( 2015 ) “ risk management for monetary policy near the zero lower bound. ” brookings papers on economic activity. joyce, m, tong, m and woods, r ( 2011 ), “ the united kingdom ’ s quantitative easing policy : design, operation and impact ”, bank of england quarterly bulletin, vol. 51, no. 3, pages 200 – 12. king, m. ( 2013 ), “ monetary policy : many targets, many instruments. where do we stand? ” remarks given at the imf conference on “ rethinking macro policy ii : first steps and early lessons, ” washington dc. klomp, j. and de hann, j. ( 2009 ), “ inflation and central bank independence : a metaregression analysis, ” journal of economic surveys, vol. 24, 593 – 621. orphanides, a. ( 2003 ) “ monetary policy evaluation with noisy information, ” journal of monetary economics, 50 ( april ), pp. 605 – 31. rudebusch, g. ( 2001 ) “ is the fed too timid? monetary policy in an uncertain world, ” review of economics and statistics, 83, pp. 203 – 17. shafik, m. ( 2015 ) “ interpreting the yield curve : warning or opportunity, ” speech given at the annual conference of the association of corporate treasurers. soderstrom, u. ( 2002 ) “ monetary policy with uncertain parameters ”. the scandinavian journal of economics, 104. 1, pp. 125 – 145. warsh, k. ( 2014 ) “ transparency and the bank of england ’ s monetary policy committee, ” http : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / publications / documents / news / 2014 / warsh. pdf bis central bankers ’ speeches

one of the forthcoming meetings. another main area of our activities related to international cooperation. as one might expect, the ecb closely monitors all international developments that may have a bearing on the achievement of its tasks. moreover, given the economic importance of the euro area and the euro ’ s role as the world ’ s second international currency, the ecb is a major actor in the international monetary and financial system and certainly has a role to play in crucial fields such as the maintenance of financial stability and the soundness of the global economic and monetary environment. as a consequence, the ecb regularly participates in the meetings of various international institutions and fora, such as the g7 finance ministers and central bank governors, the g10, the g20 and the newly created financial stability forum. moreover, the ecb has obtained permanent observer status at the international monetary fund. it participates in all meetings of the imf executive board at which issues related to euro area monetary and exchange rate policy are discussed and has established a permanent representation in washington d. c. i should also point out that the ecb has started to closely follow the process of accession of new eu member states. in this context, the ecb intends to maintain close contacts with the european commission, which will also help to ensure that the eurosystem ’ s views, within its fields of competence, are duly taken into account during accession negotiations. in order to facilitate the adoption of emu - related legal, operational and policy requirements, the ecb has initiated a dialogue with the central banks of the accession countries, which was most notably reflected in the organisation of a high - level seminar in helsinki in november last year. naturally, the broad range of activities of the eurosystem, of which i have tried to give you a concise, albeit incomplete overview, has placed severe strains on personnel resources. in order to be able to cope with the increase in operational and policy competencies, the ecb had to recruit further staff. having started from a level of 534 staff members at the beginning of 1999, the ecb currently employs around 760 people. this number is set to increase to slightly above 1, 000 employees by the end of the current year. the rising staffing level has also necessitated extension of infrastructure and premises. this brings me to the annual accounts of the ecb for 1999. i should like to report that the ecb made an operating profit of eur 666 million. however, the ecb was required