ECB Leadership Doubles Down on Guidance as June Meeting Nears
- Draghi sees no reason to deviate from current policy path
- Constancio prefers to take decision closer to year-end
Mario Draghi restated the European Central Bank’s commitment to end asset purchases before increasing interest rates. “There is no reason to deviate from the indications we have been consistently providing in the introductory statement to our press conferences,” the ECB president said in a speech in Madrid on Wednesday. (Excerpt) (Source: Bloomberg)
Mario Draghi is leading a push to stamp out any speculation that the European Central Bank might raise interest rates before it ends quantitative easing.
Speaking in Madrid, the ECB president reaffirmed the “logic” of the current sequencing, arguing that the unwarranted side effects of negative rates are likely to be less of a problem than those potentially produced by asset purchases. Along with his deputy Vitor Constancio and Executive Board member Peter Praet, he urged investors waiting for a signal on the path of policy normalization to be patient, signaling that June might not be the time for big decisions.