As recognised in the draft report, the ECB’s monetary policy – which is designed to fulfil our primary objective of maintaining price stability – has continued to be successful in anchoring inflation expectations at levels consistent with price stability, despite a number of challenges, in particular relating to the continued strong surge in oil prices until the most recent period of time.
As already emphasised on several occasions, such anchoring is a prerequisite for monetary policy to make an ongoing contribution towards supporting sustainable economic growth and job creation in the euro area, fully in line with Article 105 (1) of the EC Treaty. In this respect, let me emphasise that the ECB’s open and transparent communication is a key element in guiding market expectations.