A few days after ECB officials decided to slow the pace of asset purchases in the fourth quarter, Philip Lane, the bank's chief economist, said investors should not focus solely on the size of asset purchases when evaluating ECB monetary policy.
"it is not a good idea to judge the monetary policy position in terms of asset purchases," Lane said.
"the effective way is to emphasize persistence," he said at a webinar on Wednesday. "We are pleased that our monetary easing is strengthening the underlying inflationary dynamics and will continue to strengthen over time. We have a coherent policy position. "
The European Central Bank decided last week to "moderately reduce" the pace of purchases under its 1.85 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion) emergency pandemic bond-buying program, which President Christine Lagarde insists should not be seen as curtailing stimulus. At the same time, new forecasts suggest that the current surge in inflation may be temporary, with price increases averaging 1.5 per cent in 2023, well below the ECB's 2 per cent target.