In the light of this information from the two pillars of the monetary policy strategy, the Governing Council reduced the key ECB interest rates twice by 50 basis points, first on 17 September, in the immediate aftermath of the events of 11 September, and then again on 8 November 2001. After these decisions, the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations stood at 3.25% and the rates on the deposit facility and the marginal lending facility stood at 2.25% and 4.25% respectively, 150 basis points lower than a year earlier. Let me also report that at its meeting of 8 November 2001, the Governing Council decided that it would henceforth – as a rule – assess the stance of the ECB's monetary policy only at its first meeting of the month. Accordingly, since November 2001 interest rate decisions have only been taken at such meetings. In addition, I should mention that in the context of its regular review of the reference value for M3, the Governing Council confirmed in December 2001 the value of 4½% for the annual growth of the broad monetary aggregate M3. I would now like to turn briefly to the analysis of the current economic situation. Over recent weeks we have seen a slight weakening of monetary dynamics, which might be a first indication of a gradual unwinding of the factors that led to the increase of M3 growth in the second half of last year, and a continuation of the decline in credit growth.
I should like to thank the members of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs for the very fruitful exchange of views, both in the context of my presentation of the ECB's Annual Report and on other occasions. This Committee has indeed played an important role in bringing the euro closer to the citizens of Europe. BIS Review 26/2002  3