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
In presenting the ECB Annual Report to the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, de Guindos said that ‘[a]lthough policy support has been successful in containing immediate financial stability risks, medium-term vulnerabilities remain high.’
14 April 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The combined support of monetary and fiscal policy has been essential for Europe’s economy and must be maintained, European Central Bank Governing Council member Mario Centeno said Wednesday .
14 April 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau said Wednesday that ECB monetary policy should remain accommodative for years.
14 April 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Financial risks persist, but the European Central Bank’s policy measures in response to the crisis have not seriously aggravated such vulnerabilities, ECB Governing Council member Mario Centeno said Wednesday .
14 April 2021
In an event with Reuters, Lagarde said that ‘[w]e are still clearly dealing with a pandemic crisis’ and ‘are still swamped with uncertainty’. Every day there are developments that underscore this, she said, citing vaccine-related snags and increases in hospitalisations.
14 April 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
In an article for Views - the Eurofi Magazine, dos Santos wrote that ‘the approval of an unprecedented volume of European funds to support the recovery of the European Union’s economies, a large part in the form of straight grants, gives credence to forecasts for growth in the near future.’
14 April 2021
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
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
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Provided pandemic containment measures are not extended beyond next month, French GDP growth this year should top 5%, European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau said Tuesday.
13 April 2021
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
In a speech at a central banking conference posted to the website of Banco de España, which he heads, de Cos said that given ‘high uncertainty and still fragile economic conditions, monetary policies should continue to contribute to maintaining favourable financing conditions, which will help to underpin the strength of the recovery.’
12 April 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Of the many sentiments expressed by European Central Bank Governing Council members in recent days, one from Dutch National Bank head Klaas Knot has generated reactions that underscore particularly well the difficulty the ECB could face in taking back anything it has given.
12 April 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Interest rates in the euro area will eventually have to rise, European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said Sunday. In an interview with Greek television station ANT1, Stournaras,...
11 April 2021
In an interview with Spanish daily El País, a copy of which was made available by the ECB, Panetta said that ‘[i]n general, it would not be prudent to bet on a rapid recovery’, given the risk of disappointment. ‘And even if we do manage to exit the pandemic soon, we will realise that there is actually more damage to the economic fabric than is currently visible.’
11 April 2021
In an interview with German daily taz, Scholz said that the €400 billion borrowed by Germany during the crisis was ‘a lot of money’, but that ‘the crisis would have cost us much more in the long run’ otherwise.
10 April 2021
In an interview with CNBC, Lagarde said that the ECB remained ‘very far away’ from price stability, so that it remained too soon to discuss tapering, given regular asset purchases would continue beyond the PEPP.
9 April 2021
In an interview with Belgian business daily l’Echo, Wunsch, who heads the National Bank of Belgium, said that Europe could rebound quickly to pre-pandemic levels of economic activity.
9 April 2021
In an interview with Bloomberg, Stournaras, who heads the Bank of Greece, said that if needed, the PEPP could in fact be extended beyond its currently planned termination date of next March.
9 April 2021