The corresponding increase in retail prices (the effect on daily purchases) amounts on average to between 0.5 and 1.8%. Initially, we thought that the inflationary effects would end up at the lower end of this range, and that is what we made public. This may have been a little premature, because, with hindsight, the inflationary effects appear to be closer to the top end.
In my view, the provision of information on this point could have been better. Besides a source of news, the Bank is of course a consumer of economic news in the Dutch press. I find the quality of financial and economic reporting quite sound. Dutch journalists are generally wellinformed and are able to put news items quickly into context.