European economy recovered from corona: ECB cuts support | Financial

Reporter Dorinde Meuzelaar and stock market editor Theo Besteman closely follow the interest rate decision, the explanation of ECB President Lagarde and the reaction of the financial markets. Read their tweets below this story.

The ECB announced this on Thursday afternoon. The interest rate will remain unchanged for the time being.

The ECB launched a buying program in March 2019 to support the eurozone economy. That package is €1850 billion and will run until March next year. The ECB still buys a sloppy €80 billion worth of bonds per month.

This will happen at a ‘moderately slower pace’ from next quarter. An exact amount has not been mentioned. The ECB has also not yet made a decision whether the corona program will actually end in March next year. ECB President Lagarde was also not in the cards today. That will all be discussed in December, she said in an explanation of the interest rate decision.

The ECB also released new estimates on economic growth and inflation on Thursday. This year, the eurozone is growing by 5%, where the mathematicians in Frankfurt still assumed 4.6% in June. Growth will be 4.6% in 2022, before slowing down to 2.1% in 2023.

Inflation will come out at 2.2% this year, before slowing down to 1.7% next year. According to Lagarde, the rise in inflation is largely temporary, partly because the oil price rose sharply until March. In the explanation, the ECB president was positive about the recovery, but warned that we are not there yet. “There are still 2 million fewer people at work than in 2019.”

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