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ECB Draghi: Confident Will Hit Inflation Goal Despite Glitches

(MNI) London
By Christopher Mc Innes 
     FRANKFURT (MNI) - Inflation is already on its way to reaching the European
Central Bank's target and President Mario Draghi expressed confidence in
comments today that it would get there.
     In a Q&A session in Frankfurt with school students, Draghi said slow wage
growth, the main drag on inflation according to the ECB, is probably only due to
temporary factors and should pick up as economic growth strengthens.
     --ECB LOOKING AT BUSINESS CONFIDENCE
     The ECB will look closer at the direction of business confidence in the
euro area in the coming months, Draghi said. The direct effects of the ongoing
trade dispute between China and the US are likely to be minimal but could impact
business confidence, according to the ECB helmsman.
     Business sentiment indicators in some large euro area countries have
printed downward since the start of the year, albeit from very high levels.
Blame for the softer readings has largely been assigned to anxieties about a
deteriorating global trading environment.
     --STEERS CLEAR OF NOWOTNY SPAT
     Draghi elected to avoid any direct comment on the path of monetary policy
and instead focused on the achievements of the competition winners. He also
called for deeper European integration to face the supranational challenges of
today and tomorrow.
     In an interview with Reuters yesterday, Austrian central bank governor and
ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny appeared to call for a faster pace of
monetary policy tightening. He suggested a 20 basis point increase in the
deposit rate as a first step following the end of the end of the Asset Purchase
Programme, which he saw as drawing to a close by the end of this year. 
     The reported comments prompted the ECB into the unusual step of commenting
on statements by individual policymakers, distancing itself from them by saying
that the views expressed were Nowotny's own.
--MNI Frankfurt Bureau; +49 69 97782671; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$EC$]
MNI London Bureau | +44 203-586-2223 | david.robinson@marketnews.com
MNI London Bureau | +44 203-586-2223 | david.robinson@marketnews.com

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