Taking a closer look at the ECB report for 2008, as you do, it is interesting to note that the cost of financing for Eurozone firms and households rose to it’s highest level in 6 and a half years in 2008. Don’t forget the ECB was still raising interest rates in July of last year and they have been slower than most central banks to cut rates. Corporate debt rose to record highs in 2008 in the Eurozone accounting for 80.5 % of GDP and was more than four times gross corporate profits. This reminds me of a piece of research I saw a few weeks back which charted the stimulus that had been conducted by each central bank, which showed that rates (calculated using long term interest rates and financing costs) had actually backed up higher in the Eurozone even while the ECB were cutting rates.