MNI BRIEF: ECB Review Should Underline Symmetric Target - Lane

The European Central Bank's reassessment of its Strategy Review should underline the symmetrical nature of its 2% inflation target, ECB executive board member Phillip Lane said Thursday.

Lane, saying he was giving his opinion and not anticipating what may come, said that he wished that the current strategy said the ECB would act in a “forceful and persistent” manner in response to any strong deviation of the target and not just when rates are at the lower bound. The ECB executive board member was speaking in Washington, DC at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 

The ECB reassessment should also take into account the fact that shocks are now more likely due to geopolitical uncertainty, trade, AI, and climate change, and the ECB should be able to react in an agile way and be less focused on baseline scenarios, he said.(See MNI POLICY: BOE, ECB Probe Whether QT Can Lower R-Star)