Mario Draghi showed growing enthusiasm about the state of the euro-area economy, while cautioning that inflation pressures remain too weak to contemplate paring back stimulus. “It’s true that growth is improving, things are going better,” the European Central Bank president told reporters in Frankfurt on Thursday after the Governing Council agreed to keep stimulus settings unchanged. “In 2016 we were speaking of a fragile and uneven recovery. Now it’s solid and broad.”
Euro-area economic data have demonstrated increasing resilience, prompting ECB officials to publicly debate when they might start to wind down asset purchases and raise interest rates. Economists predict the first hints of an exit from extraordinary stimulus may come by June 8, when the Governing Council next announces policy and publishes projections on the economic outlook. “The risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook, while moving towards a more balanced configuration, are still tilted to the downside,” Draghi said. “Underlying inflation pressures continue to remain subdued and have yet to show a convincing upward trend.”
