ECB Minutes: No sound of any helicopters – ING

By FXStreet Peter Vanden Houte, Chief Economist at ING, suggests that the minutes of the ECB’s March meeting brought little news.

Key Quotes

“Whilst there doesn’t seem to be an intention to lower rates any further, there’s also a commitment to keep them at current rates at least until 2018 and a desire to keep the yield curve flat. Helicopter money isn’t in the ECB’s toolbox for the time being.

The minutes of the ECB’s March monetary policy meeting echo to some extent the Fed Minutes that were published yesterday: just like the Fed, the ECB see potential downside risks to the external environment. And even though domestic demand is looking more robust, the risks remain skewed to the downside. In that regard the argument was made that for countries with available fiscal space, public investment could be increased. At the same time, the members of the Governing Council showed concern about the prospect that it would take longer to reach the inflation objective than previously expected.

Members therefore widely agreed that there was a need to reconsider the monetary policy stance. While there was broad agreement for the launch of the TLTRO II to ease credit conditions, some members found the incentive scheme rather …read more

Source:: FX Street