In such a context, there are two questions that arise for a central bank and that I would like to address tonight. First, how is monetary policy affected when the interbank market does not exist? Second, how can the interbank market be restarted?
Headline inflation eased to 2.6% in January 2000 on an annual basis, from 2.7% in December 1999, while the underlying index edged up marginally from 1.8% in December 1999 to 1.9% in January 2000 (see Chart 5).