ECB President Mario Draghi told the European Parliament economic affairs committee that there is no sign of a rebound in the economy yet. He said “recent data and forward-looking indicators – such as new export orders in manufacturing – do not show convincing signs of a rebound in growth in the near future and the balance of risks to the growth outlook remains tilted to the downside.” He also warned “the longer the weakness in manufacturing persists, the greater the risks that other sectors of the economy will be affected by the slowdown.”
Separately, Governing Council member Klaas Knot told Dutch parliament’s finance committee that parts of ECB’s recent stimulus were “disproportionate”. And, he was “not in agreement with the new programme in its entirety.” Additionally, he questioned savers’ response if commercial banks were to impose negative interest rates. “We don’t know what would happen because that’s never happened before,” Knot. “If they were to pull their savings, that could cause a bank run.”
