ECB Monthly Bulletin Editorial for October (Text)

The following is the text of the European Central Bank’s October monthly bulletin:

Based on the Governing Council’s regular economic and monetary analyses, and in line with its forward guidance, the Governing Council decided at its meeting on 2 October 2014 to keep the key ECB interest rates unchanged. Following up on the decisions of 4 September 2014, the Governing Council also decided on the key operational details of both the asset-backed securities purchase programme and the new covered bond purchase programme. This will allow the Eurosystem to start purchasing covered bonds and asset-backed securities (ABSs) in the fourth quarter of 2014, starting with covered bonds in the second half of October. The programmes will last for at least two years. Together with the series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations to be conducted until June 2016, these purchases will have a sizeable impact on the Eurosystem’s balance sheet.