At the same time, this outlook for growth is surrounded by unusually high uncertainty and downside risks, stemming in particular from continuing financial market tensions, which may last longer than initially expected, from further unanticipated rises in oil and food prices, which may dampen aggregate demand, and from protectionist pressures.
Against this background, the Governing Council believes that the current monetary policy stance will contribute to achieving price stability. As we have stressed, the firm anchoring of medium to longer-term inflation expectations is of the highest priority to the Governing Council. We remain strongly committed to preventing second-round effects and the materialisation of upside risks to price stability over the medium term.