The European Central Bank will kick off the new quantitative easing on November XNUMXst, starting to buy public and private securities again at a rate of 20 billion a month. And the securities that come to maturity will continue to be renewed. The announcement came from Thursday Mario Draghi, which he held in Frankfurt the last press conference as president of the ECB. After 8 years under Italian leadership, the Eurotower is about to pass to the French Christine Lagarde, former director of the International Monetary Fund, who will take office on November XNUMXst.
“The Governing Council reaffirmed the need for a highly accommodative monetary policy stance for an extended period of time – continued Draghi – and remains ready to adjust all its tools, where appropriate, to ensure that inflation continues to stably approach the target level”.
The Frankfurt board has interest rates confirmed record low (0% on the main refinancing operations, 0,25% on the marginal lending facility and -0,5% on deposits).
In the last few hours, the news has spread that five out of 19 central bank governors who make up the Governing Council and two out of six members of the Executive Committee have voted against the re-edition of Qe, strongly desired by Draghi. And the Dutch governor, Klaas Knot, explicitly criticized the package of measures launched by the Eurotower, defining them "disproportionate".
"We had discussions – Draghi explained – and this is normal in all jurisdictions. Sometimes they are made public, sometimes not: I have taken all this as a normal part of our debate”.
Draghi then repeated the invitation to the governments of the countries with the accounts in order to adopt expansionary budget policies. Those with high public debt, on the other hand, "must pursue prudent economic policies and respect structural objectives".
Finally, a consideration on the last eight years and a joke about the future: “If there's one thing I'm proud of – said Draghi – it's that I've always tried to pursue my mandate in the best possible way. What will I do after the mandate ends? I don't know, ask my wife. I hope at least she knows."
