This pattern of increasing retail sales will also have an impact on the downward trend in the rate of increasing consumption. Delta variant transmission and mobility restrictions have also affected the Business Confidence Index and Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which in turn affects the level of production and investment.
But integrating the SSM in the ECB also creates some new opportunities for the conduct of monetary policy and other functions closely related to it. I particularly see four areas in this respect: the state of the macroeconomy; monetary policy options; interactions with supervisory policies; and the management of the central bank balance sheet.