Electricity generation has tripled in China over the past decade, overtaking the European Union in 2008 to become the world’s second biggest generator of electricity after the United States. Of course, per capita usage rates of electricity are still much lower in China but they will rise with incomes. In 1999, just over 23,000 Chinese postgraduate students were studying abroad.
Let me begin with a few words on the main monetary policy decisions we have taken and the challenges we have faced during 2010 and 2011. As you know, the ECB’s monetary policy is constantly guided by the goal of maintaining price stability in the euro area over the medium term. And when I say this, I mean price stability in either direction.