ECB Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said the new 2% symmetric inflation target is a “significant change”. But, “there is no point putting in rules with such-and-such predetermined threshold or duration” on inflation overshoot.
“In the hypothesis that we stop net purchases under the pandemic emergency purchases program next March, our monetary policy will remain very accommodative for as long as necessary, thanks to our quartet of unconventional tools. There is no doubt about that,” Villeroy added.
Yannis Stournaras said that the new strategy will leave ECB better prepared for further crisis. Ignazio Visco noted ECB is not adopting average inflation target like that Fed, which suggests a period of catch-up in inflation.