In particular, after briefly recalling the motives for our April interest rate increase, I shall elaborate on how the ECB deals with the particular challenges prevailing, namely •  inflation pressures stemming from commodity prices  •  costs of keeping interest rates low for too long  •  the adjustment to the monetary policy stance with some non-standard measures still in place, and  •  divergent macroeconomic and financial developments in the countries of the euro area.
1  Further elaborations on this theme can be found in my intervention “The new normal” at the 13th Euro Finance Week, Frankfurt, 16 November 2010. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  2. Commodity prices and the outlook for price stability  On 7 April we increased our key interest rates by 25 basis points.