However, due to different starting points some countries are naturally more advanced in their adjustment process than others. Especially in Greece further efforts are necessary to manage the turnaround. 3. The role of monetary policy  Now, what is the role of monetary policy in this process? Monetary policy certainly helped to prevent the crisis from escalating.
With the caveat that saving is not very accurately measured, it looks like the propensity to save out of new income has been quite high, and that people are working to reduce debt more quickly, and are more demanding of value in their purchases than they had been for some time. This is quite a difficult environment for retailers.