European Central Bank: Press Conference - introductory statements  Introductory statements by Mr Willem F Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank, and Mr Christian Noyer, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, at the Press Conference, held in Frankfurt, on 14 September 2000. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice-President and I are here to report on the outcome of today’s meetings of the General Council and the Governing Council of the ECB. The Governing Council of the ECB today conducted its regular examination of recent monetary and economic developments and their implications for the risks to future price stability in the euro area. Subsequently, it decided to keep the interest rates on the Eurosystem’s monetary policy instruments unchanged. Thus, the minimum bid rate in the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem was left at 4.50%, and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility were kept at 5.50% and 3.50%, respectively. Allow me to give you an overview of the main elements of our assessment of the latest information on monetary, financial market and other economic developments. As regards the developments in the context of the first pillar of the monetary policy strategy of the ECB, no new monetary data have become available since our decision taken on 31 August 2000 to raise the main ECB interest rates. After having increased at a very strong pace in the first quarter of 2000, M3 growth has been showing some signs of moderation over recent months.
For example, if you look at my preferred measure of underlying inflation, called trimmed-mean inflation—which removes the most volatile price movements—it’s been running at 2 percent. This measure of inflation hasn’t shown any signs of trending up or down. That said, I will be watching developments closely for signs of a persistent shift away from our 2 percent long-run goal. As I mentioned, the economy started the year with a lot of momentum. But there are reasons to believe that the surge in growth won’t persist through the remainder of the year. Taking into account of all the indicators we follow, I anticipate a step-down of economic growth, from the 3 percent growth recorded last year to a still-solid pace of about 2-1/4 percent in 2019. 1/2  BIS central bankers' speeches  This is good news. It’s above the economy’s underlying potential, but not unsustainably so. Healthy economic growth should in turn fuel solid job gains, higher wages for workers, and some further declines in unemployment. The strong economy and labor market should also support inflation returning to 2 percent, the Federal Reserve’s long-run goal. The Global Picture In addition to the positive data we’ve been getting for the U.S., we’ve also seen encouraging signs that risks from global economic and financial markets are abating. Last year there were worries that the global growth slowdown centered in China and Europe would spill over onto our shores. This was one factor contributing to a more downbeat assessment of U.S. growth and the stock market sell-off.