Lagarde: "Need To Maintain Flexibility And Optionality"

Pres Lagarde continues her opening comments, explaining the ECB's decisions on asset purchases:

• Due to the outlook, we will now follow a step-by-step reduction in the pace of asset purchases in the coming quarters, but monetary accommodation is still required to meet the inflation target. Due to uncertainty, we need to maintain flexibility and optionality for monetary policy.
• The pandemic has shown that flexibility in the design of asset purchases has helped counter the impairment to monetary policy transmission.
• Under stressed conditions, flexibility will remain an element of monetary policy whenever threats to the transmission mechanism jeopardise the price stability target.
• PEPP reinvestments can be adjusted across asset classes, time and jurisdictions. This includes purchases in the Hellenic Republic.
• Net purchases under PEPP could be reactivated in response to negative shocks from the pandemic.