I would then like to turn my attention to the subject of gold as part of our currency reserves. But first, let me begin with the key events in monetary policy. Key events in monetary policy in 2012 and 2013 More than 20 months have passed since the SNB introduced the minimum exchange rate against the euro under exceptional circumstances. In summer 2011, the Swiss franc had appreciated to such an extent that we had to take action. It is the SNB’s statutory mandate to ensure price stability, while taking economic developments into account. With money market interest rates already close to zero and conventional monetary policy options exhausted, we would have no longer been able to fulfil this mandate without the introduction of a minimum exchange rate. In taking this step, the SNB averted the threat of adverse developments to price stability and the Swiss economy. The minimum exchange rate provided the foreign exchange market with clear guidance and gave companies a sounder basis for their investment planning. Notwithstanding the minimum exchange rate, conditions for the Swiss economy remained difficult in the past year. Global economic growth weakened, after having already lost momentum the previous year. This slowdown was mostly due to the deterioration in economic activity in emerging economies and to the recession in the euro area. Although the European financial and debt crisis is weighing particularly heavily on the euro area economy, it is also curbing growth in other regions.
How do we see our objectives in the current conditions? Our priority task remains unchanged– it is the price stability. Despite a leap in inflation last year and earlier this year, our medium-term inflation target is still 4%. We estimate it to be achievable. Another important task is to maintain financial stability amid current turbulence. And third, we ultimately aspire to creating balanced macroeconomic conditions to put the economy on the track of sustainable economic growth. We will have to tackle these issues in challenging external conditions. The pace of the global economic growth will not be high; other countries’ monetary policy will keep influencing the Russian economy; the oil market is likely to remain unstable. Therefore, the economy will have to adjust to the new realities when both oil prices and exchange rates fluctuate both upwards and downwards. A few words on the banking industry. Economic developments of the last year could not help but impact banks. Generally, all the economic indicators showed quite good dynamics last 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  year – assets and lending were on the rise. Profits, though 40% lower than in 2013, were non-negligible at the level of 600 billion rubles. However, the situation certainly began to change. We can see slower lending rates. In some months of the year we have registered losses in the banking system as a whole. Profits in January-May this year amounted to nine billion rubles.