Incoming macroeconomic data also confirm the strong fundamentals of the euro area economy and support a favourable medium-term outlook for real GDP growth. Against this background, our monetary policy stance is still on the accommodative side with, inter alia, money and credit growth vigorous in the euro area.
2 The substitution of risk-free government securities for less liquid assets on the balance sheets of core financial institutions acts as a kind of lubricant to the machinery of banking. In return, these core institutions are expected to pass on the extra liquidity through other market participants and, ultimately, into the real economy.