That has been especially true recently, as the drop in oil prices over the past year, on the order of about 60 percent, has led directly to lower inflation as it feeds through to lower prices of gasoline and other energy items.
Since October, against a background of a drastic deterioration in global conditions, falling commodity prices and rapidly receding inflationary pressures, the ECB has stepped up its crisis resolution measures in an extraordinary effort to protect the functioning of our financial system and the stability of our economies.