Gabriel Makhlouf: Birth, growth and towards maturity - macroprudential policy in Ireland

Remarks by Mr Gabriel Makhlouf, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, at the Economic and Social Research Institute, 8 November 2021.

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

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here today.

Macroeconomic stability is one of the necessary foundations of a successful economy, necessary to promote the wellbeing of communities. As many of you know, macroprudential policy – both in Ireland and internationally – is a relatively 'young' discipline, at least in its most recent incarnation as it emerged after the global financial crisis. And, while macroprudential policy, like monetary policy, is a key an element of the overall policy framework to achieve broad macroeconomic stability, it remains much less understood.

That is hardly surprising. Unlike monetary policy, macroprudential policy does not have an easily observable target. And the panoply of potential macroprudential interventions entails a different degree of complexity, when compared to the set of monetary policy tools currently employed by central banks around the world.