As I discussed earlier, if people expect inflation to stay high, then it is likely to stay high. Firms will adjust their pricing behaviour and workers will seek bigger pay increases to compensate them for the higher inflation. Currently, measures of medium-term inflation expectations derived from financial market prices are around the middle of the 2–3 per cent target range (Graph 14).
They can also serve as the basis for further developments in online and mobile payments. The ultimate aim of SEPA is to create a truly domestic European retail payments market which does not differentiate between euro payments made by individuals, businesses or public administrations within one country or between SEPA countries.