Mr Praet, you were born in Germany and grew up here. Do you understand why the ECB’s policy is being so severely criticised here? The situation in Germany is different from elsewhere in Europe. There has been no credit cycle here. But in Germany it’s often forgotten that we would have faced a catastrophic situation if we had not acted.
In the area of monetary policy, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has moved aggressively, cutting its target for the federal funds rate by a total of 225 basis points since September, including 125 basis points during January alone.