March 8–The Governing Council of the European Central Bank left three key interest rates at their current rates and said it would continue to do so “an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases.”
The ECB Governing Council said inflation is “consistent” with its aim of 2 percent.
The three key interest rates are the 1.) main refinancing operations, 2.) the marginal lending facility, and 3.) the deposit facility. Those will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.40% respectively.
Continued Liquidity
The ECB plans to continue to purchase net assets at the current rate of €30 billion per month, putting liquidity back into the system through at least the end of September 2018.
“This will contribute both to favorable liquidity conditions and to an appropriate monetary policy stance,” ECB President Mario Draghi said on Thursday.
Continued Growth, Modest Inflation
The ECB estimated a higher growth rate for the Eurosystem than previously expected. It sees annual real GDP increasing to 2.4 percent in 2018, before falling to 1.9% in 2019 and 1.7% in 2020. ECB economists, meanwhile, revised earlier projections on the HICP inflation rates to project them at 1.4 percent in 2018, 1.4 percent in 2019 and 1.7 percent in 2020.
For more on the ECB statements and press conference, go to the ECB website.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Patti Mohr