Yet, the inability to predict is no excuse for not preparing for future contingencies. At the ECB, we are doing this as part of our ongoing monetary policy strategy review. [2] My remarks today will not in any way pre-empt the Governing Council’s ongoing discussions.
The sharp rise in the shares of firms who make a significant part of their revenue by selling online, of those who purchase cloud-computing services and of employees with business access to the internet suggests that in the future this sector will continue to increase rapidly;  –  the integration of markets and the international fragmentation of production have given rise to so-called global value chains: for many consumer goods, each single component is sourced from the countries where it is produced most efficiently.