MNI BRIEF: Structural Shift May Exert Upward Price Pressures

Structural changes as trade patterns, energy markets, climate and geopolitical risks may “exert upward pressure on inflation in a more fundamental way” and have longer lasting implications that could pose greater challenges to price stability, ECB vice president Luis de Guindos said Wednesday.

For these reasons, any assessment based on comparisons with historical norms and model-based estimates must be complemented by real-time monitoring of transmission to financial and economic conditions, De Guindos said.

The fact that “a substantial share of the transmission” from tighter financial conditions to the real economy is still in the pipelines and some uncertainties surrounding transmission remain, the need for a data-dependent approach to determining the appropriate level and duration of a restrictive monetary policy stance is reinforced, he said.