Ireland severed its links with the British pound sterling in 1979 and relinquished control over its monetary policy to the European Central Bank (ECB) in 1999. Consequently, the government is no longer free to use exchange rates as part of economic and trade policy. The relationship of the Irish pound to the sterling and the U.S. dollar is determined by their relationship to the euro, which itself has been consistently weak since its launch in January 1999. Higher interest rates have been introduced by the ECB to help the euro, but they would need to be considerably higher to curb Irish domestic spending and demand. A downturn in the U.S. economy could, perhaps, result in a strengthening of the euro. This would reduce the costs of imports and help curb inflation, but would at the same time decrease the value of exports. The Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) separated from the international stock exchange of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in 1995. Since then, in keeping with global trends, the ISE has grown rapidly, with market capitalization increasing from I£7.4 billion in 1992 to I£66.8 billion in 1998, and 81 companies listed in 2001. It appears, however, to be too small to attract significant levels of venture capital, and Irish technology companies tend to look to the NASDAQ or the EASDAQ (proposed Europe equivalent) for this reason. With this coordination of stock exchanges across Europe, investor participation in Irish stocks may increase.