developments beyond the control of the ECB. And there have also been prolonged episodes of negative real interest rates in the past: in Germany, for example, the real returns on savings between 1974 and 1981 and between 1989 and 1994 were almost always negative. Many people were unaware of this because the nominal interest rates were higher – but inflation was even higher.
Let me summarise my comments on the low interest rate policy. For me, the low interest rate policy was and is the appropriate response to the persistently too low inflation rate. I may not like low interest rates, but they are necessary to support economic growth and thereby to achieve the objective of price stability.