To be sure, international trade has been expanding as a share of world GDP since the end of World War II. Yet, through the mid-1990s, the expansion was largely a grossing up of individual countries' exports and imports.
We are ready to explore all options within our mandate to ensure we can continue to fulfil our responsibilities under the Treaty, i.e. promoting the smooth operation of payment systems and ensuring the effective transmission of monetary policy, for which the stability of the centrally-cleared repo segment of euro money markets is crucial.