In April we said the most significant risk to our inflation outlook was the prospect of a large shift toward protectionist trade policies around the globe. We also reminded members that our forecast included the negative effect of increased uncertainty on the export and investment plans of companies.
Under the monetary pillar, there is only Europe: the single currency, the single monetary policy, and the single central banking system – the Eurosystem, which consists of the ECB and the national central banks of the 17 members of the euro area. The economic pillar is more decentralised, with responsibility for fiscal and economic policies in the hands of individual countries.