The policy rates were expected to remain at their current levels through the summer of 2019. Since then, the incoming data during the first months of 2019 have confirmed that global economic activity has slowed down, which is now felt also in the euro area.
5 To the extent that digital payments crowd out the use of cash, this raises questions about how to ensure that consumers retain access to a form of safe central bank money. In the United States, the pandemic led to an acceleration of the migration to digital payments as well as increased demand for cash.