FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank may need some time before the recently agreed increase in money printing becomes apparent in its net purchase data, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday.
“While records of our weekly purchases will continue to be distorted by short-term noisy factors – such as occasionally lumpy redemptions – the step-up in the run-rate of our programme will become visible when ascertained over longer time intervals,” Lagarde said in a speech.
The ECB agreed last week to “significantly” increase its bond purchases to hold down borrowing costs, which have steadily increased since the start of the year on expectations for higher global growth and inflation.
“If sizeable and persistent, increases in those market interest rates, when left unchecked, may become inconsistent with countering the downward impact of the pandemic on the projected path of inflation,” Lagarde told the European Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs.
Lagarde otherwise repeated the bank’s policy message, including its guidance on growth.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Francesco Canepa)
