3  Several developments illustrate this: policy rates are close to zero in most advanced economies, and negative in some; quantitative easing by the ECB and BoJ last year was the highest since 2011; sovereign bond yields in several countries – mainly in Europe – are currently negative for 2 year maturities and in some cases 5 year maturities; the policy rate at the Bank of England is the lowest since its inception in 1694; prices of financial assets and real estate surged to record levels in many countries; Switzerland sold 10 year bonds at a negative yield, and Mexico twice issued 100 year foreign-currency bonds that were heavily oversubscribed.
4  OECD Economic Outlook; November 2015, page 19. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  and grains, has fallen nearly 70 percent since the end of July 2015 and is at its lowest level since the index was established 30 years ago. Figure 1: World trade volumes and GDP growth  Source OECD.