•  If required, these instruments could be used separately or in tandem to improve financial conditions in order to support aggregate demand and ultimately achieve the inflation target. •  As you are aware, the Bank deployed the first instrument on 21 April.
For example, interest rates  BIS Review 55/2002  1  for long-term government bonds in Italy and Spain, even in 1995, were 5 to 6 percentage points higher than the rates for German Federal Bonds. Besides, improved fundamentals, market expectations of an early participation in monetary union are likely to have played an important role in the interest rate convergence process.