We have also seen a significant cut in bank retail interest rates combined with a rise in loan volumes. Since 2014, bank lending rates to firms have dropped by more than 100 bp on average in the euro area [and by as much as 130 bp in Italy; and the spread between Italy and France decreased by 60 bp between January 2014 and February 2017]. The growth rate of bank loans to non-financial corporates has increased from –4% in late 2013 to +2% today. Bank loans to households have also gone from negative to positive growth rates. In addition, the economic recovery is currently firming and broadening. Growth has been steady for, as I speak, 14 quarters in a row and 5 million jobs have been created since mid-2013 in the euro area, although unemployment is still too high at 9.6%. This recovery is neither fast nor vibrant enough but it has prevailed in spite of a number of global and domestic shocks. [slide] Growth in the euro area was slightly higher than in the United States in 2016, and should not be very far off in 2017. Next steps for monetary policy So what should we do next? It is clear that the current macroeconomic environment does not call for a recalibration. Our current monetary policy stance remains fully appropriate based on current information, as Mario Draghi has stressed, and should not be adjusted before we see more concrete signs that inflation can be sustained at levels closer to our target.
Today, the euro accounts for 20% of international reserves, second only to the dollar. An internationally recognised currency generates economic gains: financial markets are more attractive to domestic and foreign investors, more liquid, and thus more efficient. But it also carries a political weight: when Mario Draghi speaks at the G20, the whole world listens to Europe attentively, just as when Janet 2/6  BIS central bankers' speeches  Yellen speaks for the United States. Overall, this list of benefits is impressive, particularly when you think that the euro is only 18 years old. More importantly, we have come this far despite the global financial crisis, which triggered the deepest recession in three generations, and despite the euro area sovereign debt crisis a few years later. 2. Let me now turn to monetary policy: the euro has passed the stress test of the crises. a. Monetary policy Successful crisis management The Eurosystem has deployed an innovative and resolute monetary policy strategy, which has helped stabilise the euro area economy and reduce the costs of crises. Let me briefly recall what we have done [slide]. We had first to face, like you, the consequences of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Like many other central banks, we reacted promptly by offering unlimited liquidity to financial intermediaries, sharply lowering our main refinancing rate and providing international swap lines. Yet, this was only our first challenge. The Lehman episode paved the way for the euro area sovereign debt crisis and its amplification through the “bank-sovereign” nexus.