In this respect, and following up to the letter from the President of the ECB to the Chairperson of this Committee, let me briefly recall that the Governing Council is very satisfied with its definition of price stability, which – by the way – is fully consistent with the goals pursued by the most successful national central banks in the euro area prior to Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union.
Together with the negative annual rate of growth in loans to the private sector (equal to –0.6% in January 2010), the latest data support the assessment that the underlying pace of monetary expansion is moderate and that, in the medium term, the inflationary pressures associated with monetary developments are low.