At present the bulk of Asia’s current account surplus is generated by Japan, which in 2004 contributed $ billion; another major contribution, of $ billion, was made by the newly industrialized economies. According to the IMF, in 2004 the current account surpluses of China and the other Asian developing countries amounted to $ billion and $ billion, respectively.
Could specific monetary policy measures adopted by the ECB weaken the transmission mechanism by negatively affecting banks’  2  profits and capital accumulation and hence lower the incentives for banks to engage in lending activities? Many factors are at work, and disentangling the impact of the APP from that of other measures is of capital importance in informing the monetary policymakers’ decisions.