Pablo Hernández de Cos: The ECB monetary policy response to the pandemic crisis

Opening remarks by Mr Pablo Hernández de Cos, Governor of the Bank of Spain and Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, at the 1st Ibero-American Central Bank Conference, jointly organized by the Bank of Spain and the Ibero-American General Secretariat, 12 April 2021.

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

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen (or good morning to those joining us from the other side of the Atlantic).

It is a source of great personal satisfaction to welcome you to this 1st Ibero-American Central Bank Conference. For the Banco de España it is an honour to have jointly organised it with the Ibero-American General Secretariat, and I would first like to thank their Secretary-General, Rebeca Grynspan, for her resolve in bringing this initiative to fruition.

On 21 April the stage is set for the 27 th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, an established forum for dialogue, coordination and cooperation at the highest level between the 22 countries making up the Ibero-American community. Within the framework of the Summit, this meeting today seeks to contribute to the debate relating to the functions proper to central banks. In this connection we will not be starting from scratch, as there is a long-standing tradition of dialogue and cooperation between the Latin American and Caribbean monetary authorities (a somewhat more extensive geographical area than the strictly Ibero-American space), pursued mainly under the auspices of CEMLA (the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies), which will be celebrating 70 years of existence in 2022. 

This meeting is taking place a little over one year after the start of the COVID-19 crisis, which has been characterised by its global scale, unprecedented intensity, high persistence and a very marked differential impact across sectors, countries and population groups.