This period was marked by a sharp contraction in world output and trade followed by a sluggish recovery. In fact, in the autumn and winter of 2008/09, macroeconomic developments tracked very closely those observed at the start of the Great Depression of the 1930s. During this period the Eurosystem implemented “nonstandard” monetary policy measures.
Against the background of a sharp contraction in World output and trade and in reaction to increasingly dysfunctional money and financial markets, the ECB took bold steps to support the banking system which is at the core of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in the euro area.