I would like to thank acting Governor Matti Louekoski for his invitation and very kind hospitality, as well as the staff of Suomen Pankki - Finlands Bank for a perfectly organised meeting. We deeply regret that Mr Matti Vanhala had to resign from his position and we wish him all the best. Let me now report on the outcome of today’s meeting.
Until the end of August 2008, all these measures – which were taken within the Eurosystem’s operational framework – proved broadly sufficient to align short-term money market rates with our policy rate, although the volatility in money market rates was higher than before August 2007 and money market spreads at longer maturities remained elevated.