And we stand ready to act if this scenario does not materialise. But, nonetheless, broad money and credit expansion by the euro area banking system has remained anaemic. The annual growth rate of M3 slowed steadily in the aftermath of the VLTROs and stood at a very low level of 1.2% in January 2014.
The monetary policy impulse, as reflected by the increase of base money, has hardly been transmitted to the real economy. Additionally, it is clear that the ingredients of “good deleveraging” cannot be provided by monetary policy alone. Good deleveraging involves, on the liability side, equity being built up  4  Euro area bank lending survey, ECB January, 2014.