ECB-Council leaning towards a reduction in support in March-report | Photo credits: Istock
FRANKFURT, April 7 (Reuters) – Members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) overwhelmingly favored a reduction in monetary support at their March meeting and they judged that the conditions for a rate hike of interest were met or about to be met, shows the report of the debates published on Thursday.
The ECB left its monetary policy unchanged on March 10 but announced its intention to put an end to its bond purchases in the third quarter, thus accelerating the withdrawal of its exceptional support for the economy in the face of soaring prices in the eurozone.
“Many of the (Council) members were of the view that the current high level of inflation and its persistence argued in favor of further immediate steps towards the normalization of monetary policy,” the minutes explained.
“It has been argued that (..) the three conditions posed by the indications on the future course of monetary policy before an upward adjustment of the main ECB interest rates were already met or were very close to be reunited,” he added. (Report Balazs Koranyi, French version Marc Angrand, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)