Milton Friedman is one of the giants of 20th-century economics, and the book he wrote with Anna Schwartz has been commented upon, discussed, criticised and praised so often and with such authority, that being invited to talk about it causes dismay long before one can feel flattered.
The net increase in our monetary base was around 500 billion euro as banks reduced their use of shorter maturity facilities. Our particular method of supplying primary liquidity makes the future absorption of liquidity in excess of the minimum reserve requirements easy to achieve. Banks have to repay what they have borrowed when maturity is reached.