For instance, since June 2014, the GDP-weighted average of euro area 10-year sovereign bond yields has fallen by more than 130 basis points and bank lending rates to euro area companies by about 95 basis points. The lion’s share of these declines can be directly attributed to the monetary policy measures that the ECB has taken since then.
Further delay in applying these measures is likely to erode the economic achievements of the last few years and our ability successfully to meet the challenges facing us. This is not the time, therefore, to postpone decision making. The financial crisis is here, and is not waiting for us.