2/11  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  The turning point in the monetary policy stance that started in December 2021 was indispensable. The Governing Council had responded to both the deflationary pressures stemming from the global financial crisis and the euro-area sovereign debt crisis and to the risks arising from the pandemic by adopting extraordinarily expansionary measures.
As these factors waned, it became inevitable that the key interest rates and liquidity would return to more balanced values. Since the end of 2021, the increase in energy prices, initially gradual, has become more substantial and prolonged because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, thus calling for an accelerated normalization of monetary policy, though this was by no means unexpected.