Partiam, partiamo or the ECB communication

In the "Atto secondo, Scena IV" of Verdi`s opera, La Forza del Destino, there is a famous choir which keeps singing "partiam, partiam, partiamo" (let's leave, let's leave, let's leave) while remaining stubbornly on the scene, without making deeds follow words.

I cannot help recalling this scene while observing the communication from the ECB.

It is a few months, since November of last year when it last reduced rates, that the ECB is sending the message that it is ready to reinforce its action to symmetrically pursue its objective of "close but lower than 2.0% percent in the medium term", while not actually following up with action.

From firmly to weakly anchored, or the importance of an adverb!

Four months ago I published a post with the title: Is the price stability target of the ECB at risk? In it I explored the risk of inflation remaining too low for too long in the €-area.

My conclusion was: ”yes, there is a risk for the price stability objective, but the probability of this unfavourable development is low if the ECB will use its tools appropriately.” In light of the lack of action by the ECB in March, even when projecting inflation remaining well below its objective of “close but below 2.0% in the medium run” for the fourth year, it is useful to review the issue and update the answer.

Macro-prudential: if not now when?

At the turn of 2000, when the € was at 0.85, very weak, against the dollar, the then Economic Counselor of the International Monetary Fund, Michael Mussa, issued a statement that made some waves in the monetary world: "if not now when?" [1]. With that statement he made the point that if there was a time when a central bank had to resort to the unusual step of intervening in the foreign exchange market, that time had arrived for the European Central Bank.