The head of the ECB relies on flexibility in the face of many uncertainties.
(Photo: AP)
This press conference could almost have been skipped. If you take the official statement of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the statements by President Christine Lagarde together, the following picture emerges: The central bank will very likely stop its net purchases of government bonds between the beginning of July and the end of September. After that, it could take anywhere from a week to several months before it hikes rates for the first time.
The current statement is only a reaffirmation of Lagarde’s comments after the previous meeting in March. The most recent statements leave so much open that they offer too little orientation.
In fact, all real decisions have been postponed until the next monetary policy meeting on June 9th. Only if you look and listen very closely does one get the vague impression that the ECB has met market expectations that there will be at least one interest rate hike in 2022.
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