For this reason, they are not true forecasts about future developments but merely an input into the decision making process which is designed to inform the Governing Council about what to expect if interest rates are not changed for some time into the future.
Obviously, if the Governing Council identifies risks to price stability and acts on this basis by changing interest rates, the projections made by the forecast will not materialise. This is crucial to understand. The forecasts which will be published by the ECB are not predictors of the most likely outcome under all circumstances.