This will be a useful background to address some of the most pressing challenges we currently face, and an illustration of our quest for long-term development. The year 2021 is special for my country, as it marks the 200th anniversary of the consummation of Mexico’s independence.
On the monetary front, the ECB is playing its part: we have substantially eased our monetary policy stance by putting forward several new monetary policy measures, such as negative deposit rates and a credit easing package, including targeted loans to support lending to the economy, and private-sector asset purchase programmes, which will last for at least two years.