Pablo Hernández de Cos: The role of the European Central Bank's monetary policy in the COVID-19 crisis

Speech (virtual) by Mr Pablo Hernández de Cos, Governor of the Bank of Spain and Chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, at the Deusto Business Alumni Meeting, 1 October 2020.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
02 October 2020

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a pleasure for me to be able to participate in this meeting organised by Deusto Business Alumni.

I would like to take this opportunity to share firstly with you some thoughts on how money monetary policy has helped stave off some of the more serious consequences, at least from the economic standpoint, of the COVID-19 crisis.

In the second part of my speech, I would also like to reflect on certain challenges that the gradual reduction in the so-called "natural interest rate" poses for monetary policy conduct in advanced economies. This is an issue which will be particularly significant in the context of the monetary policy review initiated at the European Central Bank (ECB).