The European Central Bank has left the reference rate of the Eurozone at an all-time low of 0,05%, the level reached with the cut last September.
Attention today is actually concentrated on the explanatory press conference of President Mario Draghi, at 14 pm, and on the signals he could provide regarding the extraordinary measures to stimulate the economy: above all a Fed-style Quantitative easing, i.e. a extended program for the purchase of private and public securities.
The number one objective of the Eurotower – which has the protection of price stability as its first mandate – is to bring inflation closer to the pre-established target (lower but close to 2%) and avoid entering a deflationary spiral.
According to some reconstructions in the press, however, there would be growing disagreements within the directorate, with a handful of governors hostile to the expansionary measures launched, and even more so to any plan for the generalized purchase of securities.
