Indeed, when the 1997 south-east Asian crisis spill over effects reached Greece in September-October and american hedge funds started speculating heavily (up to $ billion daily) against the drachma and the word was spread that the drachma would devalue by as much as 28% we were able to defend our parity by drawing on our foreign exchange reserves and by raising interest rates temporarily, for a couple of days at a time.
Over the next few weeks and months, the Governing Council will have to address the issue of how to prepare a communication strategy for the normalisation process. The times when central banks could allow themselves to be shrouded in secrecy are long gone. Thank you for your attention. I look forward to the discussion.