The President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi said that the need to add further stimulus from the ECB remains an open question and it will be discussed at the December meeting.
In an interview, Draghi said that it is too early to make a decision about further lowering of the deposit rate which is already negative.
According to the bank’s president, the ECB is expecting the inflation at around zero or even below zero, at least until the beginning of 2016. After that, the effect of the sharp decline in oil prices, which was seen at the end of 2014 and in 2015, on year-on-year inflation will fade away. This will lead to a purely mechanical increase in annual inflation, the official said.
The ECB president also said that the bank’s executives are set to revise the volume of the stimulus program for the European economy in December this year. At the same month, the ECB will release its updated forecasts for the eurozone GDP growth and inflation.
According to the estimates from the European Central Bank, the eurozone consumer prices will increase by 1.1% in 2016 and by 1.7% in 2017.
Following the meeting on October 22, the European regulator held interest rate at a record-low 0.05%. The ECB also left the deposit rate at -0.20%. The marginal lending rate remained the same at 0.3% as well.
