European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday said that that bank’s quantitative easing (QE) programme would continue for as long as it is needed in a speech at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.
He added that it was took early for the ECB to declare victory in the fight on dangerously low inflation levels, which are seen as a threat to prospects of economic recovery. Draghi said before QE was launched in March that the programme would last around 18 months and be worth about 1.1 trillion euros. The ECB chief also said that that bank’s extraordinary measures, including quantitative easing, were already having an impact on the real economy. “(The measures) have brought down the interest rates on bank loans,” Draghi said in the speech.
He said that, after having positive impacts on he credit situation and investor expectations, the important thing is that the bank’s quantitative easing has “just as big an effect on investments, consumer spending and inflation”.