Monetary policy

Our job is to maintain price stability. This is the best contribution monetary policy can make to economic growth and job creation.

We keep prices stable by making sure that inflation – the rate at which the overall prices for goods and services change over time – remains low, stable and predictable.

We are targeting an inflation rate of 2% over the medium term.

Our commitment to this target is symmetric: we view inflation that is too low just as negatively as inflation that is too high.

Monetary policy instruments

To help keep prices stable, we need the right tools at hand. Our interest rates are one of several instruments that we use for our monetary policy.

Think of a toolbox full of different tools that are used, also in combination with one another, to help us steer inflation. In recent years we have added new instruments to our toolbox in response to big changes in the economy that have made our task of maintaining price stability more challenging.

Monetary policy decisions