While oil and gasoline prices have come down in recent months, I am concerned that fluctuations in prices of the goods to which people pay the most attention, like food and housing, will affect expectations of future inflation. Thankfully, longer-term inflation expectations appear to remain well anchored, consistent with our 2 percent target. I will be watching those expectations closely.
Via the EFSF, additional safeguards to the value of € billion are to be provided for a transitional period, so that the Eurosystem could then accept Greek bonds as collateral, even if they were to be downgraded to “selective default”. We are not the IMF of Europe.