By 2020, it is projected that the area-wide unemployment rate will have declined to 7.2 percent, from its 2013 peak of 12 percent and its 2017 value of 9.1 percent. By 2020, it is also projected that the inflation rate will have climbed to 1.7 percent. These positive developments are supported by the broad-based growth of the global economy.
The European expansion is also supported by the ECB’s accommodative monetary policy. At yesterday’s meeting, the Governing Council decided to keep the key ECB interest rates unchanged. We continue to expect them to remain at their present levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of our net asset purchases.