The survey suggests that the number of firms citing access to finance as the biggest problem they face has increased from less than 15% in the first half of 2010 to 18% in the first half of 2012 (Chart 6). At the same time, firms do not report an increase in financing needs (Chart 7), implying that loan supply factors dominate.
It is that distortion which keeps some countries in what I have previously described as a “bad equilibrium”. And it is that distortion which falls clearly within our mandate to address. To counter the impairment of monetary policy transmission and to preserve the singleness of the ECB’s monetary policy, the Governing Council decided to undertake outright monetary transactions.