The policy rate increase in the United States last week is the most significant development of the recent past. In this context, in the baseline scenario that I will be presenting in a moment, the growth outlook for 2016 is revised downward and the convergence of inflation with the target is pushed back somewhat. This results in the September scenario being intensified, with stronger short-term inflationary pressures that should ease into the medium term. With this scenario in mind, in September we estimated that, to ensure the convergence of inflation with the target, it would be necessary to withdraw part of the monetary stimulus then in place. We began the process in October and continued it in December, taking the monetary policy interest rate (MPR) to 3.5 percent. In the baseline scenario I will describe, we considered measured adjustments that would be made at a pace that would depend on incoming information and its implications on the inflation outlook. The monetary policy stance will continue to be expansionary over the whole length of the projection horizon, in line with below-potential output growth and inflation declining to 3 percent. Let me now turn to our baseline scenario and the main risks we have described in the Reports I am presenting to you today. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Macroeconomic scenario Last November, the high basis of comparison led annual CPI inflation to 3.9 percent, down from a few months back.
François Villeroy de Galhau: Monetary policy in the face of the Covid crisis Speech by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, to the Société d’économie politique, Paris, 25 May 2020. * * *  Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to join you today for this discussion, which although virtual, will be very real in terms of the strength of the ideas put forward. And I would like to extend my warm thanks to your Chairman Denis Ferrand for his kind invitation. The crisis we are living through is without precedent, in terms both of its brutality and its scale. In the face of this unparalleled storm and the uncertainty it is creating, central banks have responded and innovated, and they need to remain alert. These actions are sparking debate, and raising profound questions about monetary policy. In these troubled times, I think I should start with a reminder of the two anchors that moor our decision-making. I shall then turn to our current strategy, in order to clarify the order of priority for our objectives, and therefore for our tools. I. Two vital and permanent anchors: the mandate and independence In these turbulent times, the ECB is held fast by two crucial and permanent anchors: its price stability mandate and its independence.