This threat took a heavy toll on the ECB’s credibility, since an interest-rate hike in the midst of the most serious financial crisis in decades was obviously absurd. No one believed it, and the ECB not only withdrew its clumsy threat the next month, but it adopted a policy of interest-rate neutrality.
这一威胁使ECB的公信力大打折扣，因为在面临数十年来最为严重的金融危机的情况下大幅提升利率是明显不合时宜的。没人相信这一套。ECB不但在二月份收回了这一笨拙的威胁，还采取了利率中立的政策。