Since its inception, the single monetary policy has successfully guaranteed a stable price level, despite soaring oil prices in recent months, and at the same time it has notably contributed to non-inflationary growth in the euro area.
The fiscal deficit among G7 countries has increased noticeably in the past three years and is now at least as large as any experienced since the early 1960s (Graph 3). 1  Other measures, such as the yield curve, also suggest very expansionary monetary policy settings.