Since its inception, the European Central Bank has regularly utilised a wide array of banking data in its monetary analysis. The data are mainly based on the aggregate balance sheet statistics of euro area monetary and financial institutions (MFI) collected and compiled by the ECB/Eurosystem.
While in the first phase of the crisis fiscal and monetary policy had eased in tandem – with fiscal policy loosening by a total of about 3% of potential GDP between 2008 and 20105 – thereafter the stance of monetary and fiscal policy decoupled.