ECB’s Makhlouf: Should See Firm Economic Rebound This Year
In a blog post on the website of the Central Bank of Ireland, which he heads, Makhlouf said that underlying inflation continued to be subdued.
23 April 2021
News
ECB’s de Cos: If HICP Forecast Doesn’t Rise With Market Rates, ECB Should Act
In a speech at the Ernst and Young Insights Forum posted to the website of Banco de España, which he heads, de Cos said that decisions about the pace of PEPP purchases would be taken without regard to the preceding pace.
23 April 2021
ECB: Professional Forecasters See No Change in Medium-Term Inflation Outlook
The survey of professional forecasters (SPF) for 2Q 2021 showed respondents to have revised up their expectations for 2021 a full 0.7 point to 1.6%, but to be unchanged in their views of inflation in both 2022 (1.3%) and 2023 (1.5%).
23 April 2021
ECB Brief: Governing Council Member Vasle Strikes More Optimistic Tone than Lagarde
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council Boštjan Vasle appears to have been the first Council member out of the blocks following ECB President Christine Lagarde's highly dovish press conference a day earlier, with a carefully worded statement on the monetary policy meeting that could be a harbinger of less gentle dissent to come.
23 April 2021
EXCLUSIVE: EU Budget Commissioner: SURE Successful in Achieving Its Goals
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) has been successful, Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration, said Wednesday.
22 April 2021
ECB Insight: Another Stubbornly Dovish Performance by Lagarde
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Thursday was at great pains to sound dovish, so much so that she appeared to suggest rather blithely at one point that the ECB hadn’t really even so much formally accelerated pandemic-related asset purchases as it had simply adjusted the pace to a new normal consistent with the ECB’s policy approach.
22 April 2021
German Finance Minister Calls for Clear Rules to Respond to Incidence Rates Over 100
In a speech before German parliament, Scholz said that ‘because the situation remains serious, something must be done beyond what we have done so far.’
21 April 2021
TRANSCRIPT: Interview with AFT’s Anthony Requin on 13 April 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Following is the full transcript of the interview conducted by Econostream on April 13 with Agence France Trésor Chief Executive Anthony Requin:
21 April 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Agence France Trésor Head: Prefer 50-Year Maturity as Ultimate Point on Our Curve
By David Barwick – Frankfurt (Econostream) – Agence France Trésor, France’s sovereign debt issuer, sees little likelihood that it will issue any debt with a maturity of greater than 50 years, according to AFT Chief Executive Anthony Requin.
21 April 2021
ECB’s Šimkus: Pent-Up Demand, Investment to Spur Growth Next Year
In an interview with public broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television, Šimkus, who took over the helm of the Bank of Lithuania earlier this month, declined to address monetary policy questions directly on account of the quiet period ahead of Thursday's Governing Council meeting.
20 April 2021
BBK Bd Member Buch: Debt Sustainability Hinges on Growth and Interest Rates
In a speech for a virtual ESM seminar on debt sustainability, Buch noted that while in the global financial crisis excessive leverage in the banking sector had caused a financial crisis, the pandemic was a threat to the liquidity and solvency of the corporate sector.
20 April 2021
ECB Lending Survey Shows Some Credit Tightening in 1Q, With More Expected
Both firms and households demanded less credit in 1Q, banks reported.
20 April 2021
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
German Producer Prices +3.7% Y/Y in March, Fastest Increase Since November 2011
The acceleration was the tenth in a row and represented a significant increase from February’s 1.9% on the year.
20 April 2021
German Bundesbank: Output Down in 1Q, But Basic Tendency Still Robust
In its latest monthly bulletin, the German central bank repeated its expectation of HICP rates well above 3% in the latter part of the year.
19 April 2021
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
ECB’s Knot: Risk of Retracting Policy Support Too Soon Worse than Being Too Quick
In a speech at a Eurofi seminar, Knot, who heads the Dutch National Bank, compared the European economy to a patient nearing the end of the emergency phase and ready to gradually concentrate on recovery.
16 April 2021
German Finance Minister: To Do Everything Possible to Further Accelerate Vaccination
In remarks made on the occasion of a virtual Eurogroup meeting, Scholz said that widespread vaccination would hopefully soon make a return to normality possible, while giving ‘a decisive boost to the economic recovery.’
16 April 2021
ECB’s de Cos: Light at End of Tunnel, But Tunnel May Lengthen and Light May Dim
In a speech at the Eurofi High-level Virtual Seminar 2021 posted to the website of Banco de España, which he heads, de Cos said that ‘recent positive health-related developments bring some much-needed rays of hope’, citing vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.
15 April 2021
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