At the same time, banks have been offered collateralised long-term credit in order to speed up lending to businesses. The intention is that the balance sheet of the Eurosystem should grow to the level where it was at the start of 2012.
The ECB’s Governing Council has unanimously stated that should the need arise, even new monetary-policy instruments will be utilised if the period of low inflation threatens to last too long. As the modes of operation of monetary policy are changing, at least temporarily, research has much to offer to decision-makers.