The ECB, which is confident that the accommodative monetary policy will pay off, made no changes at all to its monetary policy in Frankfurt on Thursday 26 April, calling for patience and perseverance.
“Our policy has been very useful and will continue to be. Consequently, the words that we have used were 'patience' and 'caution', above all else. And in the assessment, 'patience' and 'perseverance'”, said the President of the ECB, Mario Draghi, following a meeting of the Governing Council.
The inflation trajectory - 1.3% in the Eurozone in March following a level of 1.1% in February - remains dependent on a high degree of monetary flexibility, prompting the governors to opt for continuity.
This means that the mass buyback of mainly public securities ('quantitative easing', or QE) will continue at the anticipated pace - €30 billion per month - until September, at least until the inflation trajectory is once again in line with the ECB's mission of close to but below 2%.
The members of the Governing Council did not discuss either the evolution of the monetary policy or the euro exchange rate, simply noting that it had stabilised as a result of lower volatility.
Draghi said that Eurozone growth was expected to remain largely “robust and generalised”. He is not concerned at the downturn in economic activity observed since the beginning of 2018, referring to “temporary factors” such as the unfavourable weather conditions, strikes and the Easter holidays.
The downwards risks to growth related to increased protectionism in the world, however, are greater, he observed.
On Thursday, the monetary institute decided to keep unchanged well beyond the end of the QE operation the principal interest rates at 0.00% for principal refinancing operations, at 0.25% for the marginal loan facility and at -0.40% for the deposit facility. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)