ECB’s Lagarde: Remains open to adjusting monetary policy if inflation deviates
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said at 35th European Banking Congress event in Frankfurt on Friday that the central bank will remain vigilant to inflation risks and will adjust interest rates, if needed, to keep inflation at 2% target.
Additional comments
We will continue to adjust our policy as needed to ensure that inflation remains at our target.
Internal barriers in services and goods markets are equivalent to tariffs of around 100% and 65% respectively.
European inaction on reform would be irresponsible.
ECB is playing its part by delivering price stability.
ECB cuts are increasingly supporting financing conditions.
Market reaction
EUR/USD trades 0.17% higher around 1.1550 during the European trading session on Friday.
ECB FAQs
The European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, Germany, is the reserve bank for the Eurozone. The ECB sets interest rates and manages monetary policy for the region. The ECB primary mandate is to maintain price stability, which means keeping inflation at around 2%. Its primary tool for achieving this is by raising or lowering interest rates. Relatively high interest rates will usually result in a stronger Euro and vice versa. The ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy decisions at meetings held eight times a year. Decisions are made by heads of the Eurozone national banks and six permanent members, including the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde.
In extreme situations, the European Central Bank can enact a policy tool called Quantitative Easing. QE is the process by which the ECB prints Euros and uses them to buy assets – usually government or corporate bonds – from banks and other financial institutions. QE usually results in a weaker Euro. QE is a last resort when simply lowering interest rates is unlikely to achieve the objective of price stability. The ECB used it during the Great Financial Crisis in 2009-11, in 2015 when inflation remained stubbornly low, as well as during the covid pandemic.
Quantitative tightening (QT) is the reverse of QE. It is undertaken after QE when an economic recovery is underway and inflation starts rising. Whilst in QE the European Central Bank (ECB) purchases government and corporate bonds from financial institutions to provide them with liquidity, in QT the ECB stops buying more bonds, and stops reinvesting the principal maturing on the bonds it already holds. It is usually positive (or bullish) for the Euro.
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