Welcome Governor and Ms. Wilkins.
In the previous Parliament we had lots of interesting exchanges on the need to include or not to include certain tools in the bank's tool box. At one point we were talking about quantitative easing.
Last year you commented on the possibility of, or your openness to, considering negative interest rates. Some countries are currently experimenting with this, including Sweden, Japan, and Denmark, as well as the eurozone. There seems to be a growing consensus. I would ask you to comment on your evaluation of the experiments so far.
The consensus I'm seeing is that, in the short term, it might actually provide the help that's needed and is sought, but mid-term, we're losing that efficiency. There is an adaptation to that reality that actually brings about a loss of efficiency in stimulating the economies and interest rate, while trying to get the investments needed.
Could you comment on what you're seeing so far?