MNI BRIEF: No ECB Cuts Discussed, Still Data Dependent-Lagarde

The ECB did not discuss rate cuts at the latest policy meeting and its policy decisions will continue be made on a data-dependent basis, President Christine Lagarde said Friday.

“We have not decided, discussed or even pronounced cuts and duration is duration. In this statement we publish we talked about length and duration and we do specifically say if maintained for long enough...,” she said at today’s Eurogroup press conference.(MNI: ECB Likely To Soon Debate Cuts- Ex Chief Economist Praet)

Avoiding being any more precise about the likely duration of the current level of rates, she added: “Long enough is long enough - can it be defined in terms of months, quarters, further? It will be for us to decide on a data-dependent basis at each projection meeting on the basis of our assessment, but we will get to the 2% medium-term target. We are confident about it. We will be data dependent and, as I said, level and length of time will matter significantly.”

Lagarde said she had not faced “questions, let alone questioning” from finance ministers on the ECB’s latest rate decision at today’s Eurogroup meeting, but said that there had been a lot of talk at the meeting on competitiveness and how fiscal and monetary policy could be “articulating consistent and efficient manner”.