Tag Archives: ECB

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank with former Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Philip Lane, now chief economist at the ECB, at the Euro at 20 Conferences Convention Centre Dublin last year

This afternoon.

Via RTÉ Business:

“Since bottlenecks will eventually be resolved, price pressures should abate and inflation return to its trend without a need for a significant adjustment in monetary policy,” Lane said in a blog post.

He was echoed at a separate event by French governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau.

They were likely trying to dampen market expectations, which are for an early end of the ECB’s bond purchases and rate hikes worth 50 basis points by December.

These were stoked by ECB President Christine Lagarde last week, when she refused to rule out a rate increase this year. Sources told Reuters some policymakers already wanted policy changes at last week’s meeting.

But Philip Lane defended the ECB’s “hold-steady” approach.

The logic underpinning a hold-steady approach to monetary policy is reinforced if the bottlenecks are primarily external in nature, caused by global disruptions in supply or a surge in global demand,” he said.

Euro zone inflation doesn’t require significant policy tightening – Lane (RTE)

RollingNews


President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi

ECB cuts deposit rate and announces return of QE (RTÉ)

Monetary policy decisions (European Central Bank)

Rollingnews

ECB chief Mario Draghi (front centre) addressing a joint Oireachtas committee yesterday

Last night

With an average interest rate of 3.15% compared to a Euro zone average rate of 1.77%

…Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank – addressing the Oireachtas Finance Committee – described the lending market here as being in a ‘monopoly or quasi-monopoly situation’.

Meanwhile…

…The ECB chief also rejected suggestions that the bank presses member state lenders to dispose of non-performing loans in fire sales.

He was responding to Sinn Fein’s Finance spokesman Pearse Doherty who asked if the ECB was pressuring banks to sell NPLs onto vulture funds.

Mr Draghi said the ECB didn’t have a preference as to how the banks reduce their problem loan levels. He said they have to examine the details of all proposals, including, as Mr Doherty suggested, a NAMA-type arrangement for the purchase of NPLs from the banks.

Mr Doherty said the high level of non-performing loans here was a legacy of the refusal of the ECB to allow the government to burn bondholders, which cost the Irish people dearly.

Mr Draghi said he did not want to engage in a reconstruction of the past.

Too little competition in ‘monopoly or quasi-monopoly’ mortgage market – Draghi (RTÉ)

Yesterday: Draghi Into The Light

This afterenoon.

Paul Murphy TD grills the European Central Bank’s Mario Draghi over the bailout and his predecessor’s threat to the late Finance Minister Brian Lenihan during an appearance by the ECB chief at a Joint Oireachtas Finance Committee meeting.

Meanwhile…

The Irish economy has seen a particularly strong expansion in recent years. Ireland is now growing at the fastest pace of any euro area country,” he said.

“Unemployment has been falling too, and now stands well below the euro area average.

“This is all the more impressive given the severe crisis Ireland went through and the legacies it is dealing with, including high private debt and arrears.”

He said policies need to put in place to protect the exchequer and deal with “legacy vulnerabilities” in the system – especially the level of non-performing loans.

ECB chief warns Irish economy most at risk of overheating and Brexit (irish Examiner)

Meanwhile…

A policeman stops a 'Blockupy' anti-capitalist protester near the ECB building before the official opening of its new headquarters in Frankfurt
Policemen stand in front of 'Blockupy' anti-capitalist protesters near the ECB building before the official opening of its new headquarters in FrankfurtSmoke engulfs the city skyline during a protest of members of 'Blockupy' anti-capitalist movement near the ECB building before the official opening of its new headquarters in Frankfurt

Frankfurt, Germany this morning.

The organisers, a group called Blockupy – named after the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, estimated that about 10,000 demonstrators were at the rally. Thousands came into the German financial capital from other parts of Europe.

“Our protest is against the ECB, as a member of the troika, that, despite the fact that it is not democratically elected, hinders the work of the Greek government. We want the austerity politics to end,” Ulrich Wilken, one of the organizers, said. “We want a loud but peaceful protest,” he told Reuters.

Protesters clash with police near new European bank HQ in Frankfurt (Reuters)

varoufakhs-tsipras

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and finance minister Yanis Varoufakis

Germany and its allies are ready to let Greece leave the euro unless Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accepts the conditions required to extend his country’s financial support, according to Malta’s finance minister, Edward Scicluna.

Greece’s creditors are cranking up the pressure on Tsipras as he seeks a deal to prevent his country defaulting on its obligations as early as next month. By bowing to German demands, the premier risks a domestic backlash from voters and party members whom he’s promised an end to austerity.

German-Led Bloc Willing to Let Greece Leave Euro: Malta (Bloomberg)

Alternatively…

As Greece heads toward 11th-hour funding talks with its euro-area membership on the line, bondholders are surprisingly sanguine about its failure so far to secure a deal.

Forget the strategists at Commerzbank AG who say there’s a 50 percent chance it’ll leave the currency bloc, and those at Barclays Plc who put the exit risk higher even than in the 2012 debt crisis. The Bloomberg Greece Sovereign Bond Index shows those with money at stake aren’t seeing a significant increase in the chances of a euro-zone departure….

Investors Still Don’t Think Greece Will Exit the Euro Bloomberg)

Reuters