ECB Blows Out 25 Candles. 5% Inflation Is Harder
It’s an unhappy birthday for Europe’s central bank. Plus: Mixed data confront the Fed on jobs, and China on a disappointing recovery.
ECB presidents past and present Mario Draghi, Jean-Claude Trichet and Christine Lagarde.
Photographer: Ben Kilb/BloombergTo get John Authers' newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here.
The European Central Bank celebrated its 25th birthday this week. Created to oversee the euro common currency that came into existence in 1999 and determined to continue the monetary orthodoxy of the German Bundesbank, its quarter-century milestone comes a couple of years too late. The ECB was tasked with keeping inflation within a percentage point of 2%; its main problem during the post-crisis 2010s was staying above 0%. Now, core inflation across the eurozone has topped 5%. It’s just started to fall, but this is not a great look: