The name of the BIS is derived from this original role, and was also created to promote central bank cooperation in general. The reparations issue quickly faded, focusing the activities of the BIS entirely on world-wide cooperation among central banks and, increasingly, other multi-lateral agencies in pursuit of monetary and financial stability. Today, central banks from 55 countries are members of the BIS.
Inflation targeting provided us with a policy goal more realistic than the previous eclectic approach to policy, because we could hit it. That goal was also more meaningful for citizens, because we could focus on protecting the buying power of regular consumers in domestic markets – as opposed to, say, trying to hold down the costs of holidays in New York.