Lagarde Reiterates That Near-Term Outlook Remains Clouded

ECB Pres Lagarde begins the post-meeting press conference with an account of the current economic situation.

• Lagarde: The near term outlook remains clouded by uncertainty given resurgence of pandemic and rollout of vaccine programmes. High rates of infection and tightening of containment measures continue to strain economic activity in the short term.
• Looking ahead, progress with vaccinations and gradual relaxation of containment measures underpin expectation of a firm rebound in activity in 2021.
• Inflation has picked up on energy price increases and idiosyncratic factors. But price pressures remain weak due to excess slack.
• Euro area financing conditions have remained broadly stable recently. But, risks to wider financing conditions remain.