MNI BRIEF: Early Signs of Difference Despite ECB Agreement

European Central Bankers were divided in their assessment of the euro area's growth prospects, the official Account of April's Governing Council meeting shows, although uncertainty over consumer behaviour and a determination to look through idiosyncratic inflation rises meant there was broad agreement regarding the current policy setting.

The "significant" increase in PEPP purchases - to levels last seen in July 2020 - was judged to have kept yields in check and helped maintain favourable financing conditions, with its future course dependent on incoming data rather than the available purchase envelope.

June's meeting will see members re-assess both the medium-term risk outlook - currently described as more balanced, with one member seeing it as tilted marginally to the upside - and the inflation outlook. Though broadly unchanged from March, one member expressed the view that it could be tilted to the upside.