Hence, it would be premature to regard the financial crisis, and the economic crisis directly linked to it, as having already run their course. Clearly, a protracted period of stagnation in the major economies would pose a substantial risk to financial stability.
The detrimental, self-reinforcing feedback loop between an unprecedented and globally synchronous reduction in the level of real economic activity and an essentially dysfunctional financial system, which has been unravelling since the summer of this year, might then tighten again.