With the eruption of the euro area sovereign debt crisis the malfunctioning of the monetary transmission mechanism led the ECB to resort increasingly to nonstandard monetary tools. Additionally, Europe set up the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to provide  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  financial assistance to distressed Member States.
During this year, the spot price of Brent crude oil has increased dramatically from approximately $ per barrel in February to levels around $ per barrel towards the end of April and an average of $ per barrel in June.