This, in the judgment of the Governing Council, warranted a thorough examination of additional information before drawing further conclusions for monetary policy in the context of our medium term-oriented monetary policy strategy focused on maintaining price stability. BIS Review 144/2007  3
The potentially large number or companies, SMEs in particular, that may be affected by these solvency problems in the current crisis plus the fact that the public sector can be an important creditor as well, given the generalised use of public guarantees during the crisis, introduce additional difficulties or specificities that should also be taken into account. In sum, withstanding the negative consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on the solvency of viable firms, is currently a major challenge for economic policymakers. Swift policy action taken since the start of the crisis allowed a liquidity crisis to be avoided and has helped translate the medical advances against the disease into more positive macroeconomic scenarios. However, we must now be ready to react to these solvency risks in order to prevent the current crisis from developing a financial component which, as we painfully know from recent experience, would only make the crisis more lasting and socially and economically more costly. Thank you for your attention. 2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches