By David Barwick and Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The shrinking of the European Central Bank’s balance sheet at the same time as interest rates are being progressively lowered is not seen by the ECB Governing Council as posing any problem or being contradictory, according to a number of insiders who spoke to Econostream recently.
18 February 2025
By David Barwick – VIENNA (Econostream) – There is a real chance that euro area inflation will fall below the European Central Bank’s price stability target of 2%, but this would justify less monetary policy easing, not more, according to Council member Robert Holzmann on Monday.
17 February 2025
- Nagel: Depreciation of euro could strengthen price competitiveness
- Nagel: Positive effects of weak euro not enough to compensate negative impact
- Nagel: ‘Good chance’ of reaching 2% inflation ‘soon’
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta said on Saturday that the main risk for inflation in the medium term was undershooting the 2% target.
15 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Klaas Knot said on Friday that the price to be paid for implementing protectionist policies could be very high if these are poorly managed.
14 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – GLASGOW, Scotland (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Thursday that climate change could have a very negative inflation effect.
13 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – GLASGOW, Scotland (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Thursday that having a solid banking system was paramount in order to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality.
13 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Boris Vujčić said on Thursday that the impact of movements in the exchange rate on monetary policy could have increased from levels of the last few decades.
13 February 2025
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – With a March rate cut poised to bring the European Central Bank to within just one more cut of the range it defines as neutral, the ECB may three weeks from today also find the time right to revisit its language.
13 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – With the trauma of the last energy crisis still fresh, the latest price spike for such commodities has European Central Bank Governing Council members vigilant but not yet overly concerned about its implications for inflation.
13 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – LONDON (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Wednesday that the ECB should not be overly optimistic about the next interest rate decision.
12 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – LONDON (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Wednesday that gradualism in setting monetary policy was increasingly called for as the ECB’s easing cycle neared the neutral rate.
12 February 2025
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) - European Central Bank Executive Board member Frank Elderson on Wednesday avoided attempts to elicit from him any information directly touching on the outlook for coming monetary policy decisions, though he did acknowledge that inflation was converging to the ECB’s target.
12 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks said on Tuesday that the European Union should avoid an escalation with the US in a potential trade war.
11 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said on Tuesday that the ECB’s interest rate cuts could help deal with a feeble economy but could not remedy structural problems.
11 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Monday that the inflation outlook could face yet more uncertainty if global trade tensions worsened.
10 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on all imports on steel and aluminium that the European Union should engage in discussion with the US.
10 February 2025
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane said on Friday that he was not uncomfortable with current market expectations of more cuts, but that the ECB's policy had to emphasise ‘agility’.
7 February 2025
- ECB: r* estimates ‘fraught with measurement and model specification challenges and … highly uncertain’
- ECB: r* estimates ‘cannot be seen as a mechanical gauge of appropriate monetary policy’
- ECB: ‘There is no alternative to taking decisions on the basis of a comprehensive analysis’
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The interview published on Thursday with European Central Bank Executive Board Piero Cipollone suggests that there is a dawning realisation on Frankfurt’s East Side that ECB monetary policy may find itself confronting a new reality sooner than some expected.
7 February 2025