For example, episodes of volatile capital flows may return, while the economy’s long-term competitiveness remains in need of improvement. Policy objectives in 2011 The Bank of Thailand envisages two economic policy objectives this year: (1) to safeguard macroeconomic stability, and (2) to continue strengthening underlying fundamentals of the economy. Both objectives should be interpreted in the broad sense, for example, macroeconomic stability entails price stability, financial stability, as well as fiscal sustainability. Likewise, strong economic fundamentals encapsulate resilient private sector, efficient public sector, and sound banking sector among others. Given these broad goals, the Bank of Thailand and everyone all have parts to play. The government, for example, is in charge of ensuring a sustainable fiscal position in the long-term, and an efficient disbursement of budget so as to best strengthen the economy. Monetary policy Maintaining economic balance is key to the making of monetary policy, as it is one of the most important pre-requisites of macroeconomic stability. In practice, this means that as the economic activity returns to normalcy, monetary policy stance must similarly be normalized. Failure to do so will add undue pressure on inflation, ultimately posing risks to macroeconomic stability. Thus this year, the monetary policy committee (MPC) will need to continue normalizing monetary policy. The amount and pacing of policy interest rate adjustments this year will be consistent with the outlook for growth and inflation as well as the surrounding risks.
And many people in Germany, as elsewhere, on seeing that they are hardly earning anything on their savings, are wondering if we are ever going to see an end to quantitative easing. Today, the risks for growth and inflation are tilted to the downside. The best service that the ECB can provide to the citizens of the euro area is to fulfil its mandate so that inflation returns towards 2%, which requires the economy to pick up again, jobs to be created and exports to the euro area to find solvent outlets. We are aware that the low interest rates also have negative effects, notably on savings, and could pose risks to financial stability if they were to stay low for too long. We don’t want this monetary policy to last too long, but we will apply it for as long as necessary in line with our mandate. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  In other words? Governments need to take action and implement the necessary reforms in order to consolidate confidence and growth, and to demonstrate a credible fiscal policy. If the euro area policy for growth rests exclusively on the ECB’s shoulders, things will end badly! Admittedly, we are nowhere near that point. But we sense that there is a temptation to rely entirely on the ECB. What key measures do governments need to implement specifically in order to restore growth?