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ECB Insight: Time to Make Clearer That Downside Risks Are Not the Only Ones

ECB Insight: Time to Make Clearer That Downside Risks Are Not the Only Ones

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – In recent weeks one might be excused for thinking that some members of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council live in dread fear of an economic improvement in the Eurozone that could lead to any withdrawal of monetary accommodation. Given that it has become significantly harder to overlook the likelihood of such an improvement, as the need to make important policy decisions approaches inexorably, ECB President Christine Lagarde’s role as mediator could take on new meaning this Thursday.

20 April 2021 Central Bank News
German Finance Minister: Expect to Vaccinate up to 5 Million People a Week by End-April

German Finance Minister: Expect to Vaccinate up to 5 Million People a Week by End-April

In an interview with German weekly Welt am Sonntag, Scholz said, ‘The current plans are that by the end of April we will be vaccinating four to five million citizens per week. This then increases steadily, soon we will also be able to include company doctors in the campaign; by the end of June we can reach the ten million mark.’

18 April 2021 Central Bank News
German Finance Minister: Goal Is To Leave Pandemic Behind Us This Summer

German Finance Minister: Goal Is To Leave Pandemic Behind Us This Summer

In an interview with German daily Saarbrücker Zeitung, Scholz said, ‘Our goal is to make good progress with vaccination week by week so that we can finally leave the pandemic behind us in the summer. But this also requires that the number of newly infected people does not increase too much and throw a spanner in the works - which is why we need to act decisively now.’

15 April 2021 Central Bank News
German Inflation Confirmed at 1.7% Y/Y in March

German Inflation Confirmed at 1.7% Y/Y in March

The increase was the fastest since 1.7% in both January and February of last year, and represented a clear pick-up of the pace of price growth after February’s 1.3%, January’s 1.0% and negative annual readings in each of the last four months of last year.

15 April 2021 Central Bank News
ECB’s Scicluna: Risks Assessed as More Balanced After 2021

ECB’s Scicluna: Risks Assessed as More Balanced After 2021

In a statement in the annual report of the Central Bank of Malta, which he heads, Scicluna said that Malta’s relatively good economic conditions ‘means that once foreign demand recovers and the lingering uncertainty surrounding the medical crisis dissipates, the Maltese economy can be expected to rebound from the COVID-19 shock.’

14 April 2021 Central Bank News
ECB’s Villeroy: March 2022 End of PEPP Purchases Doesn’t Imply Abrupt Tightening

ECB’s Villeroy: March 2022 End of PEPP Purchases Doesn’t Imply Abrupt Tightening

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Even if the European Central Bank decided to end net purchases under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) next March as planned, this would not mean that monetary policy would abruptly tighten, Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau said Tuesday.

13 April 2021 Central Bank News
ECB’s Visco: As Emergency Ends, Fiscal Transfers Must Become Very Selective and Targeted

ECB’s Visco: As Emergency Ends, Fiscal Transfers Must Become Very Selective and Targeted

In an interview with CNN, Visco, who heads Banca d’Italia, was asked whether he considered it reasonable that Italy was able to issue 50-year bonds paying less than 30-year sovereign debt of the US. The most important thing was that there be policies ‘to overcome this very, very difficult time’, he said. Moreover, he added, debt sustainability depended on economic growth, the magnitude of the debt and the interest burden.

13 April 2021 Central Bank News
German ZEW Declines in April; First Drop Since November

German ZEW Declines in April; First Drop Since November

Moreover, financial market participants assessed the current situation much more positively, as the subindex rose 12.2 points to -48.8. This was approximately equal to the level of March 2020, ZEW said.

13 April 2021 Central Bank News