Conclusion Let me conclude. The decisive policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic by fiscal, monetary and prudential authorities has successfully prevented a much deeper economic contraction and averted threats to financial stability. Government support measures, in combination with the ECB’s ample liquidity provision, have secured bank lending to firms throughout the crisis.
Chief among them is the significant depreciation of our currency since September 2014 which, in terms of its value vis-à-vis de US dollar, accumulates to date around 46 percent, a metric that at some stages has recorded figures nearing 70 percent. Of course, notwithstanding the abovenoted reduction in the pass-through coefficient, this has had important implications for inflation.