One of the important issues in forecasting future developments is how to assess the monetary and fiscal policies that have played such a major role in the current recovery process. During the current economic recovery, the various policy measures taken by central banks have exerted substantial effects.
Although policy rates in the major economies had reached virtually zero at the end of 2008 and there remained no room for further rate reductions, credit spreads, which had jumped during the crisis, nevertheless narrowed significantly and credit availability recovered as a result of various unconventional measures.