I am therefore surprised to hear voices here and there arguing that policy-makers in the euro area were – or still are – “behind the curve”, have done too little, too late, and ought to have learnt more in terms of responsiveness from their colleagues in other parts of the world. I do not want to talk about this issue in any detail.
First, I will give you a snapshot of the ECB’s monetary policy at the current juncture and, second, I will focus on the ECB’s strategy review that is now underway. According to the ECB’s recent forecast, the eurozone economy will contract by 8% this year. Next year it will rebound to 5% growth, which will level off to 3% in 2022.