ECB keeps rates on hold as it forecasts growth pick-up

Mario Draghi said record monetary stimulus is filtering through to the economy on schedule and insisted the European Central Bank needs to see its bond-buying plan through to the finish.

“The asset-purchase programmes are proceeding well,” the ECB president said at a press conference in Frankfurt yesterday after officials kept interest rates on hold and he unveiled new forecasts projecting a pick-up in growth and inflation in the next three years. “Reaching our objectives is conditional on the full implementation of our monetary policy stance.”

Since the ECB started its €1.1 trillion quantitative-easing programme three months ago, the inflation rate in the 19-nation euro area has turned positive, though it remains far short of the ECB’s goal of just below 2%.