MNI BRIEF: Inflation Not Dead, No Imminent Threat: Schnabel

Inflation is not 'dead' and there will likely be some upward pressure on prices in 2021 as the downward impact from energy prices and the German VAT cuts dissipate, ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said in an interview published Tuesday. However, despite the unprecedented amounts of monetary stimulus in recent times, Schnabel isn't yet concerned about high price levels.

"At present there are no indications that we need to be concerned about inflation being too high. We see a pronounced weakness in demand. There is a danger that the crisis will have a scarring impact on the labour market. All in all, the main problem is probably that economic demand is too weak, rather than that capacity bottlenecks may arise, which is why prices are more likely to rise too slowly," she told Austria's Der Standard.