-ECB minutes report ongoing inflationary support, but also some market volatility
Last week, the European Central Bank (ECB) published the minutes of the Governing Council’s monetary policy meeting held in Frankfurt on Wednesday and Thursday, April 25-26.
According to the minutes of the April meeting, the Governing Council focused on the recent moderation of economic activity.
“Uncertainty surrounding the outlook had increased and caution was seen as warranted in interpreting recent developments, also because the moderation in growth appeared to be broad-based across countries and sectors,” the ECB minutes said.
The minutes suggested that the underlying strength of the euro area economy continued to support the Governing Council’s confidence that inflation would gradually converge to its inflation aim of below, but close to 2 percent over the medium term.
The minutes also confirmed the asset purchase program, which aims to bring inflation back to levels in line with the ECB's objective, would continue at €30 billion a month until the end of September or beyond if necessary.
At the meeting, members broadly agreed that financial conditions continued to be very accommodative overall, in spite of increased uncertainty and volatility in some markets.
The next ECB Governing Council meeting will be held on June 14 in Riga and will be hosted by Latvijas Banka - Latvia’s Central Bank.
-The week ahead
This week the most important data for the Eurozone will be annual inflation and unemployment. In addition, this week a number of ECB officials will make statements.