The increase of unit labour costs due to mediocre productivity, combined with other supply shocks such as oil price increases, have contributed to a level of inflation over the threshold of our definition of price stability of less than 2%.
Had we not had a highly credible monetary policy, we would not have been able to anchor solidly medium and long-term inflationary expectations in the euro area and we would have had to pay a significant price in terms of growth and job creation.