Mr. Duisenberg reports at a press conference on the outcome of the meeting of the Governing Council of the ECB. Introductory statement by the President of the European Central Bank, Mr. Wim Duisenberg, in Frankfurt on 8 April 1999. __________________________________________________________________________________ Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice-President and I are here today to report on the outcome of today’s meeting of the Governing Council. Let me start with the Governing Council’s discussion of recent economic developments and the decisions that the Governing Council has taken today in the field of monetary policy. After an indepth review of recent monetary, financial and economic developments, the Governing Council decided that the interest rate for the ECB’s main refinancing operations will, from next week on, be set at 2.50%. In addition, the interest rate on the marginal lending facility will be lowered to 3.50% and the interest rate on the deposit facility to 1.50% with effect from tomorrow. Let me report in some more detail on the reasons for which the Governing Council, in the context of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy, deemed it appropriate to lower interest rates. As regards monetary developments in the euro area, the acceleration of monetary aggregates seen in January 1999 was partly reversed in February. The 12-month growth rate of M3 declined from 5.6% in January to 5.2% in February.
In the first part of my talk, I will detail how the Banque de France, in acting as an institution with a strong regional presence, has tailored its services over time to fulfil its three main policy objectives, which are to guarantee monetary stability, preserve financial stability and provide services to the economy. In part two, I will turn to today’s economic and monetary situation and show with our current measures taken to preserve monetary stability, how the fulfilment of each objective is never a given but the result from the committed action by the central bank. **** Today, just as it has always done, the Banque de France offers two main types of nationwide services: first, it guarantees monetary and financial stability, because no economy can work without a stable currency and a stable banking and financial system; second, it supports local economies through its regional presence, serving households and companies, especially the most vulnerable, and supporting the environmental and digital transitions. Let me describe each of these aspects, explaining in each case how the Bank of France has adapted over the years to meet the needs of the day. The first broad set of services provided to the regions are focused on delivering monetary and financial stability. This means conducting a monetary policy that guarantees price stability in the medium term, but also supervising the payment system and ensuring the stability of financial intermediaries.