If such changes happen too rapidly, they can lead to temporary disruptions in the labour market.1 So it is natural for people to wonder what the economy will look like in the future and how we will ensure sustainable growth. Our task today – if we want to prevent a persistent increase in precautionary saving and instead to direct such saving towards needed investment – is to provide them with credible answers. Transitioning to the post-crisis economy Dealing with uncertainty about the outlook is the task of stabilisation policies, and here the ECB will continue to take all necessary steps within our mandate of price stability – for all euro area citizens in all parts of the euro area. Already our policies have dispelled tail risks in financial markets that could have led to selfreinforcing vicious circles. We are now orienting our measures to ensure that the right financial conditions are in place to support a recovery from the crisis. This was the motivation behind our recent decision to expand our pandemic emergency purchase programme to € trillion, coupled with the up to € trillion we are making available to banks that lend to the real economy. But monetary policy cannot address the more profound questions about how the economy will look in the future. Historical experience suggests that major economic shifts like the one we are going through today require government action to foster change and smooth the transition to the new normal.
This illustrates the importance of further reforms. 1/1  BIS central bankers' speeches