The global fall in interest rates reflects the emergence of a considerable savings glut, especially after the countries in Asia joined the world market in earnest after 2000. The decline in interest rates is thus an international phenomenon, driven by falling inflation, lower growth and increased global saving. Interest rates in Norway cannot diverge too far from global rates. An excessively strong krone would then lead to a fall in activity and deflation. The main task of monetary policy is to maintain the value of money by keeping inflation low and 5/7  BIS central bankers' speeches  stable. Inflation targeting is forward-looking and flexible so that it can contribute to high and stable output and employment and to counteracting the build-up of financial imbalances. Monetary policy cannot assume primary responsibility for financial stability. But as we are now in the process of raising the policy rate somewhat, this could also help curb debt growth. Will debt be reduced? It is easy to imagine that house prices will just continue to rise – as they have done for more than 25 years. Rising income and government wealth have gone hand in hand with rising house prices and higher household debt. But Norway’s experience from the years after oil was discovered, and in particular from the years following the banking crisis at the beginning of the 1990s, cannot serve as reliable guidance for what we can expect in the future.
We introduced the core elements of the new series – hand, globe, real location and object – when we launched the 50-franc note; naturally, these feature prominently on the 20-franc note, too. There are many additional design elements, such as line structures in the background and renderings on the security strip, all of which play on the note’s theme and key motif. Everyone will interpret these design elements in their own way. But let me make one or two purely descriptive points. The hand on the front of the note holds a prism through which light is dispersed into various colours. On the globe, the motif of light is echoed in the constellations. The background line structures on the front of the note are reminiscent of a kaleidoscope in which colourful patterns are produced through reflected light. The real location on the back of the note depicting a film festival is emblematic of Switzerland’s creative and cultural scene. Light plays an important role here as well. By projecting it onto a screen, we create a kind of second – ‘artificial’ – world. The object on the  Page 2/3  Berne, 10 May 2017 Fritz Zurbrügg  News conference on new 20-franc note  20-franc note – a butterfly with its scale-covered wings that diffract light into iridescent colours – symbolises the rich diversity of colours and shapes in nature. Let me conclude by looking to the future. We will start issuing the new 20-franc note on 17 May.