First, once a patient falls seriously ill, emergency medication is required. Strong and invasive painkillers may have to be administered. Contagion must be avoided. Similarly, a global financial crisis of first magnitude requires prompt and decisive policy action, possibly of an unprecedented nature.
When this crisis began, the European Central Bank was in the vanguard of the policy response, taking early and bold action to address financial turmoil. During the crisis, our exceptional measures – the ECB’s “enhanced credit support” – served to prevent a systemic liquidity crisis, enabled banks to continue functioning and helped to restore confidence.