Xinhua News Agency, Frankfurt, December 10 (Reporter Shao Li, left) The European Central Bank decided to keep the dominant interest rate unchanged on the 10th, and at the same time announced a number of measures including the increase of the emergency asset purchase plan to deal with the new crown epidemic by 500 billion euros. , In order to maintain loose financing conditions.
The Council of the European Central Bank decided on the same day to expand the size of the emergency asset purchase program from the previous 1.35 trillion euros to 1.85 trillion euros, and to purchase debt until at least March 2022.
After the regular monetary policy meeting that day ended, European Central Bank President Lagarde said that affected by the new round of the epidemic, the euro zone economy is expected to shrink again in the fourth quarter.
The latest forecast by the European Central Bank shows that the long-term weakness of inflation is more severe than previously thought.
In this context, maintaining favorable financing conditions will help reduce uncertainty and increase confidence.
The latest forecast data released by the European Central Bank that day showed that the inflation rate in the euro zone in 2022 was 1.1%, and the inflation rate in 2023 was 1.4%, which is still far below the ECB's inflation target.
At the same time, the central bank sharply lowered its economic growth forecast for the euro zone in 2021 to 3.9%, compared to its previous forecast of 5.0%.