This has radically changed in the past ten months or so. What was previously only of little interest to outsiders has thus moved into the limelight of public attention, within a very short time period.
Much the same can be said of the regular weekly recurring refinancing operations of the Eurosystem central banks, through which the commercial banking sector is supplied with central bank money. While interest rate decisions often receive public attention, such money market operations have so far been regarded largely as a purely technical matter and have very rarely been covered by the financial press.