KOF Monetary Policy Communicator (MPC)

The KOF MPC figure for 10 March 2016 is -0.13. At today’s meeting, the ECB decided on a comprehensive package of monetary stimulus measures to counteract heightened risks to the ECB’s price stability objective. 

At today’s meeting the ECB Governing Council decided to decrease all key ECB interest rates. The interest rate on the marginal lending facility and the main financing operations were decreased by 5 basis points to 0.25 and 0%, respectively. The rate on the deposit facility was cut by 10 basis points to -0.4%. Second, monthly purchases under the asset purchase programme were increased from €60 billion to €80 billion. Third, a new corporate sector purchase programme will start towards the end of the second quarter. Fourth, a new series of four targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO II) will be conducted, starting in June 2016, each with a maturity of four years. The Governing Council communicated the expectation that the key ECB interest rates will remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of net asset purchases.

According to Eurostat’s euro area annual HICP inflation was -0.2% in February, down from 0.3% in January. All main HICP components contributed to this decline. Inflation rates are expected to remain at negative levels in the coming months and to pick up only later in 2016. Thereafter, inflation rates should recover further. ECB staff inflation projections were revised down and now stand at 0.1% in 2016, 1.3% in 2017 and 1.6% in 2018. The Governing Council will closely monitor the dangers emanating from the low inflation environment on price and wage setting behavior.

Current ECB holdings of securities for monetary policy purposes amount to 937bn euros (end of January: 864bn euros).

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