ECB’s Wunsch: I'm going to the meeting in April being open

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European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker and the head of Belgium's central bank, Pierre Wunsch, said in the Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) What's News podcast conducted on Monday and released on Tuesday that the central bank could deliver an interest rate hike in the April meeting to limit the effect of

Remarks

The way I feel comfortable putting it is, if this is not done by June, I think we're going to have to hike, but I don't want to exclude a hike in April.

We need to move at some point to control the indirect effects.

So the focus will be on what's our view over the medium term, and it's still an uncertain view.

Last time we were a little bit late before acting, so this is something probably we have to draw lessons from now."

I'm going to the meeting in April being open in both directions.

Either this crisis ends quite soon and you know if we hike then we can probably undo that after a while. Or, this crisis is going to last and then the first hike will only be the first hike of probably a series.

Market reaction

There seems to be no impact of ECB Wunsch's comments on the Euro (EUR). However, EUR/USD rises 0.15% to near 1.1565, as of writing, due to a slight weakness in the US Dollar (USD).

ECB FAQs

What is the ECB and how does it influence the Euro?

The European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, Germany, is the reserve bank for the Eurozone. The ECB sets interest rates and manages monetary policy for the region. The ECB primary mandate is to maintain price stability, which means keeping inflation at around 2%. Its primary tool for achieving this is by raising or lowering interest rates. Relatively high interest rates will usually result in a stronger Euro and vice versa. The ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy decisions at meetings held eight times a year. Decisions are made by heads of the Eurozone national banks and six permanent members, including the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde.

What is Quantitative Easing (QE) and how does it affect the Euro?

In extreme situations, the European Central Bank can enact a policy tool called Quantitative Easing. QE is the process by which the ECB prints Euros and uses them to buy assets – usually government or corporate bonds – from banks and other financial institutions. QE usually results in a weaker Euro. QE is a last resort when simply lowering interest rates is unlikely to achieve the objective of price stability. The ECB used it during the Great Financial Crisis in 2009-11, in 2015 when inflation remained stubbornly low, as well as during the covid pandemic.

What is Quantitative tightening (QT) and how does it affect the Euro?

Quantitative tightening (QT) is the reverse of QE. It is undertaken after QE when an economic recovery is underway and inflation starts rising. Whilst in QE the European Central Bank (ECB) purchases government and corporate bonds from financial institutions to provide them with liquidity, in QT the ECB stops buying more bonds, and stops reinvesting the principal maturing on the bonds it already holds. It is usually positive (or bullish) for the Euro.

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