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ECB’s de Guindos: Exceptional Policies Should Be Gradually Normalised; Inflation Will Guide Us

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos on Friday said that pandemic policies should be normalised and that the ECB would strive for price stability on the basis of inflation, notwithstanding slower growth.

They Said It - Recent Monetary Policy Comments Made by ECB Governing Council Members

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The following is a compendium of comments made by European Central Bank Governing Council members very directly related to monetary policy’s next steps. We only include forward-looking comments made recently enough to be current. Updates are made on a periodic basis.

ECB’s Visco: Worsening Growth Prospects Won’t Force ECB to Abandon Post-September Tightening

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ignazio Visco on Thursday did not want to commit to a particular magnitude for the expected ECB interest rate hike in September, but suggested that tightening would continue beyond that month despite the brewing economic storm.

ECB Hawk-Dove Ranking: Average of Governing Council Enters Hawkish Territory

ECB’s Stournaras: May Start Reducing Interest Rates in 2023 if We Have a Recession

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras on Wednesday suggested that rate cuts might not be in the too-distant future, were Europe to enter recession.

ECB’s Wunsch: Deposit Rate of 1.5% a ‘No-Brainer’ as Long as No Severe Recession

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Pierre Wunsch on Tuesday said that the ECB should get the deposit rate to 1.5% if no severe recession occurred.

ECB’s Nagel: Must Quickly End the Still Very Expansionary Monetary Policy Stance

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel on Tuesday urged a quick end to what he called a ‘still very expansionary’ ECB monetary policy stance.

ECB’s de Cos: Inflation Risks Remain on the Upside and Have Intensified

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Inflation risks are still predominantly to the upside and have worsened, European Central Bank Governing Council member Pablo Hernández de Cos said Tuesday.

ECB’s Makhlouf: Core Eurozone Inflation Shows Spillover of Energy, Commodity Price Rises

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf on Monday said that core measures of inflation demonstrated that higher price rises for raw materials had affected a much wider range of goods and services.

ECB’s Visco: Not Time Now Really to Ask for Higher Interest Rates Than We Had Foreseen

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank will determine the appropriate magnitude of any future rate hikes when the time comes, ECB Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said on Monday.

ECB’s Holzmann: To Decide in the Fall ‘Whether to Do Another 0.50%, or Less, or Even More’

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank will decide in the fall whether its next rate hike will be smaller than, equal to or even larger than last week’s 50bp increase, Governing Council member Robert Holzmann said on Sunday.

ECB’s Lagarde: ‘We Will Keep Raising Rates for as Long as Necessary’

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Saturday said the ECB would continue hiking interest rates until the medium-term inflation outlook was consistent with price stability.

ECB’s Villeroy: TPI Confirms Governing Council’s Unity and Unlimited Commitment to the Euro

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau on Friday conceded that the ECB had given every indication of not being able to come up with a substantive anti-fragmentation programme by yesterday, but asserted that the achievement reflected policymakers’ unity and commitment.

ECB’s de Cos: Nothing Has Changed About Our Intention to Take Rates to Neutral Level

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Yesterday’s larger-than-expected rate hike by the European Central Bank does not alter the ECB’s determination to take official borrowing costs to neutral, Governing Council member Pablo Hernández de Cos said Friday.

ECB’s Kažimír: Thursday’s Hike Start of ‘Series of Similar Steps’; Would Be Happy Never to Use TPI

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Thursday’s hike of the European Central Bank’s key interest rates was the start of a series of similar moves, Governing Council member Peter Kažimír said Friday.

Bundesbank Sees 2Q German GDP Roughly Stagnant; Inflation Could Rise Again in September

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Germany's economy probably stagnated in the second quarter, the German Bundesbank said on Friday in its latest monthly report.

ECB’s Müller: Economic Suffering of ECB Decisions Preferable to Persistently Excessive Inflation

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Madis Müller on Friday said that the ECB realised that policy normalisation would probably imply some economic suffering, but that this was preferable to runaway inflation.

ECB’s Vasle: The Very Fact of a New Tool Supports Monetary Policy Normalisation

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Boštjan Vasle on Friday said that the preservation of uniform monetary policy transmission was necessary to achieve price stability and that the mere existence of the ECB’s new anti-fragmentation tool would support policy normalisation.

ECB’s Rehn: ‘At Least for the Time Being, We Cannot Speak of a Price-Wage Spiral’

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Euro area wage developments are not showing significant signs of second round effects so far, European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said on Friday.

ECB’s Nagel: Confident TPI Would Stand up to Any Legal Challenge

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel on Friday said that the ECB’s new anti-fragmentation tool, the Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI), would stand up to any legal challenge.