A decision in relation to interest rates – to lower them, to increase them, or indeed to leave them unchanged – is rarely easily made. It is always a question of weighing up opposing factors and reaching a decision consistent with the medium-term goal of price stability.
This decision was no exception; monetary growth was well in excess of the reference value, though this excess liquidity was  2  BIS Review 7/2003  largely the result of portfolio reallocation in an uncertain financial market environment and was unlikely to pose an inflationary threat.