And we have had strong indications from policy makers again during this week that should these measures prove to be insufficient, the  2  2  The ECB expects that the purchases of asset-back securities and covered bonds under the new programme, together with the targeted longer-term refinancing operations (announced in June 2014), would increase the size of its balance sheet by roughly 1 trillion euros to 3 trillion euros, a level last seen in early 2012.
BIS central bankers’ speeches  Governing council will consider in the first quarter of 2015 whether to embark on a sovereign bond purchase programme. Japan’s economic performance has also disappointed, with the hike in the value-added tax (VAT) partly to blame.