The monetary base, the sum of banknotes and current accounts at the Bank, is increasing by 14 percent on a year-on-year basis. However, the growth rate of money supply is only 3.6 percent on the same basis, somewhat higher than at the beginning of this year, mainly due to a shift of funds from maturing postal savings.
Regarding the Governing Council’s risk assessment, both upside and downside risks to the outlook for price developments are seen as limited and are considered to be broadly balanced over the medium term. Turning to the monetary analysis, data for January 2014 confirm the assessment of subdued underlying growth in broad money (M3) and credit.