In its recent strategy review, the Governing Council agreed a symmetric inflation target of two per cent over the medium term. The key ECB interest rates have been close to their lower bound for some time and the medium-term outlook for inflation is still well below the Governing Council’s target. In these conditions, the Governing Council today revised its forward guidance on interest rates. It did so to underline its commitment to maintain a persistently accommodative monetary policy stance to meet its inflation target. In support of its symmetric two per cent inflation target and in line with its monetary policy ... (full story)

The European Central Bank on Thursday held monetary policy steady, but tweaked its guidance to reflect its recently-hiked inflation target. The ECB has committed to purchasing 1.85 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion) of bonds until March 2022 as part of its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP), and policymakers voted to keep this stimulus on the table for the time being. Interest rates were also left unchanged, with the rate on the main deposit facility remaining at -0.5%, the benchmark refinancing rate at 0% and the marginal lending facility at 0.25%. The central bank’s Governing Council revised its forward ... (full story)