Should credit be stimulated in the euro zone?

When a cut in banks’ marginal deposit rate at the central bank is combined with quantitative easing, the objective is probably to stimulate bank credit. Should bank credit be stimulated in the euro zone and in the different euro-zone countries? Household credit is growing in Germany and France; it is useful if it restores residential construction, but not if it drives up real estate prices. We see that this may be the case in Spain and Italy; Corporate credit is useful if it makes it possible to restore corporate investment, but not if companies have the means to self-finance a high investment level or if it is used to accumulate cash reserves; in the euro zone it is therefore only in Italy that it is useful to stimulate corporate credit . All things considered, the only credit component that should be stimulated in the euro zone is credit in Italy. This probably does not require a very expansionary monetary policy, but rather an improvement in the Italian banks’ balance sheets.