This concern was subsequently codified in the 2021 monetary policy strategy statement that concluded that the delivery of the symmetric two per cent inflation target  requires – when the economy is in the proximity of the lower bound – especially forceful or persistent monetary policy measures to avoid negative deviations from the inflation target becoming entrenched.
Monetary policy was already accommodative before the pandemic shock. The prospect of persistent below-target inflation had resulted in a further easing of the monetary stance in September 2019: the deposit facility rate had been lowered to minus 0.5 per cent and net asset purchases were resumed at a rate of € billion per month under the ECB’s baseline asset purchase programme (APP).