The first part of the article deals with the relation- ship between Eurosystem monetary policy decisions and market interest rates. It looks, on the one hand, at the links between central bank rates and money market rates and, on the other hand, at the trend during the crisis of the risk-free yield curve, . that of AAA-rated euro area government bonds. The second section addresses the question of long-term market rates harbouring credit risk. We examine the financing costs of the public sector and the financial and non-financial private sector, as well as the relationship between the two, at both the.
