Европейская денежная система
Информация - Экономика
Другие материалы по предмету Экономика
nnounced in advance (fixed rate auction) or announced later as the result of offers received (variable rate auction). There will also be monthly auctions for three-month loans which will always be of the variable rate type in order to avoid sending signals to the market. Fine-tuning will be carried out in exceptional circumstances between two regular auctions and, finally, the structural liquidity demand can be influenced by means of open market transactions which consist in the direct purchase and sale of securities or the issuance of debt certificates.
Standing credit and deposit facilities will supply or absorb overnight liquidity, without the imposition of any other restrictions on their use by institutions other than the provision of guarantees or collateral. Both types of interest on standing facilities constitute a strip or corridor which will contain short-term market interest rate swings and provide a structure for monetary policy trends. This means that they will play an important role in terms of providing signals, a role also fulfilled by the Banco de Espaсa but in a less predetermined and formalised manner.
As far as guarantees for all these transactions are concerned, it should be stated that acceptable collateral may take the form of either a public instrument or a private instrument, provided that these are of a suitable nature, according to the neutrality principle applied to the public sector and to the private sector.
The minimum reserves will be equal to 2% of book liabilities calculated on the basis of a monthly average, will be subject to a minimum exempt level of EUR 100,000 and - this being the most important point underlining the main difference compared with the current position in Spain - will be remunerated in line with market rates. The averaging provision will allow us to absorb liquidity shocks without recourse to standing facilities. Such a minimum reserves will constitute a useful tool for restricting the volatile nature of monetary market interests rates, for reducing the need for fine-tuning and for tightening up the systems liquidity, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of the monetary policy. Its remuneration in line with the market will not only reduce money demand elasticity with regard to interest rates but also offer neutrality to euro area banks as compared with those in other countries which do not use such a tool.
Conclusion
Although inevitably in a simplified form, I hope that this statement on the aims, strategy and instruments of the euro area monetary policy has provided some basic information on the central core of the ECBs operations and that it can be used as a starting-point for our discussions.
Thank you for listening; during the discussion period, I shall be pleased to elaborate on the issues raised or examine any others which you think may be of interest.
The monetary policy of the Eurosystem
Main remarks of the speech delivered by Eugenio Domingo Solans
Member of the Governing Council and the Executive Board of the
European Central Bank
at the SOCIETAT CATALANA DECONOMIA
(Institut dEstudis Catalans)
Barcelona, 2 July 1999
The text will be available in Catalan at a later stage.
* The primary objective of the Eurosystem and, therefore, the touchstone to measure its success is the achievement of price stability. In the medium term the best contribution that the Eurosystem can make in favour of sustained growth is, precisely, to create an environment of stability. There is clearly no greater fertiliser for economic growth than price stability, and nothing is more refractory to economic growth than inflation. Provided that stability is achieved and that there is no risk for stability in the future, the Eurosystem has to create the best monetary conditions for exploiting the considerable growth potential of the euro area. This should be done in a passive way, without any activism: like the air we breathe, not like the air from an oxygen tank.
* The 5.2% increase in the three-month moving average of the 12-month growth rates of M3 covering the period from March to May 1999 is in line with the 4 Ѕ reference value for money growth, which is the basis of the first pillar of the ECBs monetary policy. Neither the slight increase in the moving average compared to its value last month (5.1%) nor the non-substantial and almost constant difference from the reference value signal a risk for price stability.
* The results of the broadly based assessment of the outlook for price developments, which constitutes the second pillar of the ECBs strategy, confirm that there is no risk to price stability in the euro area.
* The second pillar of the ECBs monetary policy strategy includes, among other indicators, the exchange rate developments of the euro. The ECBs assessment on the evolution of the exchange rate of the euro should, therefore, be linked to the risk for price stability of a depreciation of the euro. Taking into account that the euro area economy is a rather closed one, no significant inflationary impact should be expected from the recent exchange rate developments of the euro.
* One main feature of the instruments and procedures of the Eurosystems monetary policy is their high level of flexibility, in the sense that without discretionary changes the instruments can accommodate a wide range of different market situations. On the other hand, there is flexibility in the sense that the Eurosystem has at its disposal a wide set of monetary policy instruments and has, therefore, the possibility to move from one to the other if and when it is deemed appropriate, taking into account their advantages and disadvantages. In the first stage of the ECBs monetary policy, the fixed rate tender with a discretionary allotment is the best choice for the main refinancing operation owing to its advantages in terms of signalling effects and controlling both the liquidity allotted and the volatility of overnight rates. On the contrary, in the case of longer-term refinancing operations, the Eurosystem as a rule does not intend to send signals to the market and the effects on the liquidity and on the overnight rates are weaker. Therefore, for longer-term refinancing operations, the market-oriented variable rate tender has a clear advantage.
* The activities and the monetary policy decisions of the ECB should be interpreted from a euro area perspective as a whole. To interpret them from a national standpoint would be a mistake.
***
THE ROLE OF THE CENTRAL BANK IN THE UNITED EUROPE
Speech by Dr. Willem F. Duisenberg,
President of the European Central Bank,
National Bank of Poland,
Warsaw, Poland on 4 May 1999
1. Introduction
First and foremost, I should like to congratulate the National Bank of Poland (the NBP) on its 75th anniversary. The age of the NBP already suggests that as the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), an institution that is even less than one year old and has only been conducting monetary policy since January this year, I should be modest. I am aware that the role of the NBP has not been constant over these 75 years and that in the past decade, in particular, the NBP has gone through a remarkable restructuring process. My previous central bank, de Nederlandsche Bank, has, together with the International Monetary Fund and many national central banks, been involved in assisting the NBP in its efforts to adapt to the role of a central bank in a market economy. Of course, the real work had to be done by you yourselves and I believe you can be proud of what has been achieved over the past decade.
Today in my speech I should like to focus on the role of the ECB, as a truly European institution. First of all, I shall explain the background against which the introduction of the euro and the establishment of the ECB should be considered. Thereafter, I shall discuss the main features of the institutional structure that determines monetary policy-making. I shall then turn to our monetary policy strategy and the role of accountability and transparency in this strategy. I shall conclude by briefly addressing the issue of EU enlargement.
2. The process of European integration
On 1 January of this year the euro was introduced in 11 countries with a combined population of almost 300 million. The ECB started to conduct a single monetary policy for the so-called euro area. Former national currencies, such as the French franc and the German Mark are no longer autonomous currencies, but subdivisions of the euro. Euro banknotes and coins will only be introduced in 2002.
The voluntary transfer of monetary sovereignty from the national to the European level is unique in history. However, it should not be seen as a single, isolated event. The introduction of the euro is part of the process of European integration. This process started shortly after the second World War and has now been under way for more than half a century. The aims of European integration are not only, or even primarily, economic. Indeed, this process has been driven and continues to be driven by the political conviction that an integrated Europe will be safer, more stable and more prosperous than a fragmented Europe. It is true that economic integration has been the main engine of this process and that, although it has had its ups and downs, integration has delivered important econ