• Monetary policy: the ECB starts its strategic review

The European Central Bank (ECB) has modified a new point on the roadmap that Christine Lagarde had marked as soon as she reached the presidency and announced this Thursday that she is extending her strategy review for another six months, until mid-2021. of monetary policy, due to the crisis of the new coronavirus.

"In the current situation, the governing bodies and staff of the ECB and the national central banks of the Eurosystem are focusing their efforts on meeting the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, the conclusion of the strategy review is it will be postponed from the end of 2020 to the middle of 2021 ", contains a statement published this Thursday by the institution's Governing Council.

The entity does not carry out a review of its 2003 action plan and this has become one of the objectives of Lagarde's mandate. The aim is to take stock of how the monetary policy strategy has supported the fulfillment of the ECB's mandate, based on the conclusions, to establish whether it is necessary to adjust any element "." The quantitative formulation of price stability [currently it is "close, but below 2%], along with the approaches and instruments by means of which such stability is achieved, it will figure prominently in this exercise," the bank explained in the launch of the initiative. . The review will also take into account how other considerations such as financial stability, employment and environmental sustainability may be relevant in fulfilling the ECB's mandate.

Until now, such a review was scheduled "before the end of 2020," Lagarde announced in her first appearance as president of the ECB. As explained then, it is "a comprehensive review" that takes into account the opinion of all the parties that will be affected by it and that includes all the current challenges, from technological transformation to climate change and the inequalities that they occur in the economies of the region.

Now the expansion of the coronavirus among European countries, and its impact in some such as Spain or Italy, has forced a change in strategy and schedule.

"Due to the sanitary measures in force in the European Union, including the closure of public spaces and the prohibition of concentrations of people in different countries of the euro area, it is now foreseen that the acts programmed by the ECB and the Eurosystem national central banks to listen to stakeholders, originally scheduled for the first half of 2020, will take place during the second half of 2020, "the statement added.

Likewise, the traditional ECB Forum , held annually in the Portuguese city of Sintra , is delayed and this year will finally take place on 10, 11 and 12 November.

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  • Christine Lagarde
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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