In this context, it should be noted that the second three-year longer-term refinancing operation was only settled on 1 March 2012. Looking ahead, it is essential for banks to strengthen their resilience further, including by retaining earnings.
Certainly, today’s environment of low inflation and stable inflation expectations allows for much more rational business decisions concerning capital investment than we experienced in that earlier period. Although inflation has picked up so far this year, it remains moderate. In this morning’s report, the core CPI was up 1.7 percent from a year earlier; in December, the year-over-year change was 1.1 percent.