ECB President Christine Lagarde indicated in a speech that the asset purchases could end “early” in Q3, and interest rate hikes could start “only a few weeks” after that.
“We will end net purchases under the asset purchase programme. Judging by the incoming data, my expectation is that they should be concluded early in the third quarter,” she said.
“The first rate hike, informed by the ECB’s forward guidance on the interest rates, will take place some time after the end of net asset purchases,” she reiterated.
“We have not yet precisely defined the notion of ‘some time’, but I have been very clear that this could mean a period of only a few weeks. After the first rate hike, the normalisation process will be gradual,” she added..
