In this respect, the recent increases in ECB rates have been motivated by a desire to avoid being compelled to take stronger measures at a later stage. I believe this is the best way to fulfil our mandate, as it is defined by the Treaty, and thereby to contribute to sustained economic growth in the euro area.
At the conference, Professor Raghuram Rajan, then director of research at the IMF, spoke on the topic ‘Has financial development made the world riskier?’[1] Contrary to the accepted wisdom of the day, Rajan answered three times in the positive: yes, it has made it riskier.