*  *  Introduction  Ladies and gentlemen, Due to the worldwide financial crisis a number of conceptual issues have been raised. This also applies to the conduct of monetary policy. I would like to focus on three key aspects of the ongoing debate on what lessons are to be learned from the crisis.
Moreover, a thorough assessment of the monetary counterparts suggests that, as yet, the availability of bank credit to households and non-financial corporations has not been significantly affected by the turmoil.