ECB Sees Evidence that Policy Working

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said monetary policy is helping the region’s economic recovery and will succeed in boosting inflation.

“The implementation of the asset purchase program is proceeding smoothly,” Draghi said at a press conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday, after the ECB’s Governing Council left interest rates unchanged.

“There’s clear evidence that the monetary policy measures we’ve put in place are effective.”

Data support Draghi’s view that Europe’s long-ailing economy is responding to the fresh round of stimulus launched last month, with gauges of activity and confidence pointing upwards as credit bounces back.

The ECB president, who has pushed the central bank into unprecedented action to ward off deflation, said the measures will continue until September 2016 or until a “sustained adjustment” in inflation is seen.

“The Governing Council will follow its monetary policy strategy and concentrate on trends in inflation,” Draghi said. The ECB intends to look “through unexpected outcomes in measured inflation in either direction if judged to be transient and to have no implication for the medium-term outlook for price stability.”

Bloomberg