Before doing so, I should note that the opinions I express today are my own and are not to be attributed to my colleagues in the Federal Reserve System.3  Recent and prospective developments in oil markets To assess recent developments in the oil market, it would be useful to know whether the high price of oil we observe today is a temporary spike or is instead the beginning of an era of higher prices.
Against this background, the Governing Council had left the key ECB interest rates unchanged at their historically low level of 2.0% since June 2003. The data that have become available over the past few months in fact confirm the outlook I gave in April. They indicate that the economic recovery in the euro area has maintained its momentum.