At the meeting of the Directorate of the European Central Bank (ECB) held this morning in Barcelona, the Frankfurt institute has decided to keep interest rates at an all-time low of 1% for the fifth consecutive month. According to rumors, during the meeting it was noted that the economic prospects of the euro area have undergone an apparent deterioration in recent weeks and how tensions have been recreated on government bonds in the periphery of the euro area. But everything will be confirmed by the president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, during the press conference scheduled for 14.30 pm.
There are several topics that the ECB leaders are thought to have discussed in armored Barcelona – massively manned by the Spanish forces of order. In the first place it is probable that it is made an ex-post analysis of the liquidity injection (Ltro and Ltro2 worth over a trillion) from the ECB to the commercial banks of the euro area, which does not seem to give the expected results. Tensions on the bond market remain heated, especially in Spain and Italy, where in recent weeks the spread with German Bunds has begun to rise again.
Furthermore, it is possible that the ECB experts are examining the Basel 3 standards, yesterday endorsed by Ecofin. The discussions on the ways in which to apply the capital solidity parameters of the banks seem to fail to bring the finance ministers of the European Union to agreement.
