the price index adjusted to exclude energy and food prices, is likewise relatively low. The muted domestic price pressures measured in this manner also show that some euro-area economies are recovering only gradually and that unemployment levels in those countries are still very high.
Seeing as the euro-area economic recovery is only tepid, the Eurosystem projections foresee no more than a gradual increase in inflation to 1.3 % next year and 1.6 % in 2018. In view of this muted price outlook, an accommodative monetary policy is appropriate at present, though reasonable people can disagree about the specific design of the non-standard measures.