El BCE hunde los tipos y aumenta el gasto sin garantía de éxito
The European Central Bank lowered its benchmark interest rate to -0.4 percent from -0.3 percent on Thursday, in a widely anticipated move, and adopted additional stimulus measures in a renewed attempt to fire up eurozone economies and fend off deflation.
The ECB, at a meeting of its governing council, said it would increase its monthly bond purchases to €80 billion from €60 billion, starting in April.
Unnerved by a recent surge in risk signals, from plunging oil prices to evaporating Chinese exports and even the possibility of a Brexit, ECB watchers were expecting strong action today from Mario Draghi and his team to calm the jitters. With the expanded bond purchase, they went bigger than some had expected.
Most observers had anticipated the ECB to raise monthly bond purchases by €10 billion to €70 billion. The bank also said it would include investment-grade corporate bonds in its asset purchase program.
European stock markets immediately leapt 2-3 percent, while the euro fell against the dollar by 1.6 percent.
Draghi’s last rate cut of 10 basis points in December had disappointed market players. However, the minutes of the bank governors’ policy meeting in January, amid global stock market sell-offs, showed that they were leaning heavily towards further monetary easing.
But whether today’s steps will prove to be powerful enough a medicine to cure the eurozone economy’s anemic growth and recent slide into deflation won’t be known for several months. The ECB has had a negative deposit rate since June 2014 and has pursued quantitative easing since January 2015.
Some fear the bank is running out of options to treat the patient.
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