One important set of issues being studied is how fluctuations in the financial sector play out in the real economy, and how regulations and practices – including the regulation of financial institutions – can dampen or exacerbate these fluctuations. Under the umbrella of the Financial Stability Forum, various international committees have been looking at these important issues and are considering a variety of proposals.
We will now report on the outcome of today’s meeting of the Governing Council, which was also attended by the President of the Eurogroup, Prime Minister Juncker, and Commissioner Almunia. On the basis of its regular economic and monetary analyses, the Governing Council decided today to reduce the key ECB interest rates by a further 50 basis points.