MNI BRIEF: ECB Leaves Rates Unchanged, Confirms Other Measures

The European Central Bank left its main interest rate settings unchanged Thursday and confirmed its current measures, noting that 'favourable financing conditions can be maintained with a moderately lower pace of net asset purchases' under PEPP than in Q2 or Q3.

The Governing Council also confirmed its forward guidance on their likely future evolution, its purchases under the asset purchase programme (APP), its reinvestment policies and its longer-term refinancing operations, all as expected and laid out in MNI's latest State of Play.

"In support of its symmetric two per cent inflation target and in line with its monetary policy strategy, the Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it sees inflation reaching two per cent well ahead of the end of its projection horizon and durably for the rest of the projection horizon, and it judges that realised progress in underlying inflation is sufficiently advanced to be consistent with inflation stabilising at two per cent over the medium term. This may also imply a transitory period in which inflation is moderately above target," the statement confirmed.