ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure he’s not worried about slowdown and the central bank is still on course to end the asset purchase program this year.
Coeure told German newspaper Die Zeit that “at the end of last year, I said that I didn’t expect that our asset-purchase program would need to be extended again. I see no reason to change my view.” And, policymakers expect the economic expansion to continue, and are “increasingly confident that inflation will rise towards our aim of below, but close to, 2 percent.”
Regarding the upcoming new Italian government. Coeure said “it’s too early to comment on plans we don’t know.” But he emphasized that “on fiscal policy in general, the ECB’s view is well known: Europe has fiscal rules and they should be respected.”
