Monetary policy has been one of the main pillars of the post-2001 stabilisation programme. The Central Bank was made an operationally independent institution with a legal mandate to achieve price stability. Fiscal consolidation backed monetary policy, reducing fiscal dominance and reinforcing the independence (the capacity to adjust interest rates independently in order to meet policy objectives) of the Central Bank. Improved fundamentals coupled with a benign global environment have led to a reduction in the risk premium, attracting strong capital inflows and triggering currency appreciation, which also helped with disinflation. Headline inflation fell from around 70% at the end of 2001 to 7.7% by the end of 2005.