Turning to inflation, let me start by noting that in 2012 the Federal Open Market Committee stated that its inflation goal was for the price index for personal consumption expenditures to rise at a 2 percent annual rate over time. Over the last 25 years that measure of inflation has averaged 2.06 percent per year.
I firmly belief that it is primarily the task of European governments to provide sound and lasting solutions to the various challenges posed by the sovereign debt crisis. Three things are particularly important in this context. First, in order to restore confidence, member states have to set both their public finances and their banking systems in order.