In fact, confidence has recently risen and convergence is being confirmed – partly because the temporary decline in the inflation rate has been weaker than our internal calculations had predicted when we had reduced the purchasing program from EUR 60 billion to EUR 30 billion. More resilience will follow eventually. Still, patience and persistence with respect to our monetary policy is required.
The former is necessary as it takes time for price pressures to build-up and the latter reflects the fact that the pick-up in inflation still needs to be supported by the prevailing monetary policy stance. Once the Governing Council judges that progress towards meeting the three criteria is sufficiently advanced, our net asset purchases will be brought to an end.