As for growth, our estimates show that the Asset Purchase Programme (APP) raised productive activity by almost 2 percentage points cumulatively in the two years 2016-2017, 10 which is consistent with President Draghi’s assessments. 11 The benefits of monetary stimulus have not come to an end.
In the light of the recent positive signs for the economy, last October the ECB Governing Council decided to extend its  4 5  6 7 8  9 10 11  Cf. Panetta (2016). Low (or negative) inflation rates were more common between the end of the 19th century and World War II.