However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the uncertainties surrounding the monetary data are no greater than those surrounding other economic variables. In this respect, it is of interest to note that the ECB has even been criticised by some observers for not paying sufficient attention to money!
*  *  *  During the first three years of the euro’s existence, the European Central Bank has already been confronted with important and different challenges. At the start of the single monetary policy, in the beginning of 1999, its principal leading interest rate stood at a low level of 3 p.c.