And what I did during my press conference, the first one, I tried to warn the journalists in the room and the journalists and observers behind their screens that they have to take me for who I am and not try to second-guess or associate or proceed by an analogy, an analysis or comparative work because it would probably be misguided.
Those countries that saw the highest pre-crisis increases in private debt – principally Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain – and that therefore have the greatest bank deleveraging needs, are by and large the same countries where monetary policy transmission has been most impaired. Of course, other factors such as sovereign risk have also played a role.