Services in the euro area today account for more than 50% of final consumption, compared with less than 40% in 1980. In the United States, households today spend nearly 70% of their consumption expenditure on services, and in Japan, this figure is 60%.
And soon after, we announced our asset purchase programme (APP), buying asset-backed securities and covered bonds. Faced with a continued decline in inflation and a heightened risk of a de-anchoring of inflation expectations, in January 2015 we expanded the APP to include public sector securities.