The behaviour of prices in the euro area is also a cause for concern. Against a fragile macroeconomic background, as at present, very low inflation rates entail a danger that consumer and business expectations will stand excessively below the ECB’s medium- term price stability objective of 2% for the euro area as a whole. Contrary to the downside risks surrounding the growth projections for the international economy as a whole, those for inflation are more mixed and have given rise to different responses by various central banks. The US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have begun to withdraw some of the exceptionally expansionary non-conventional measures they introduced at the height of the crisis. Conversely, the European Central Bank has gone in the opposite direction, deepening the expansionary stance of its monetary policy. The euro area monetary policy stance has taken the form of a series of measures adopted, in the main, at the June and September meetings of the ECB Governing Council, where conventional action has been combined with other exceptional and non-conventional measures. Among the conventional measures, official interest rates have once again been cut. The main refinancing operations rate currently stands at an all-time historical and technical low of 0.05%. The deposit facility rate moved into negative territory in June and was further lowered in September to –0.20%, thus increasing the cost for banks of holding immobilised surplus liquid balances in their accounts with the Eurosystem.
John C Williams: Building an equitable future Remarks (via videoconference) by Mr John C Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the Economic Inequality Policy Forum: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Communities of Color and Policy Insights for an Equitable Economic Recovery, 24 September 2020. * * * Hello everyone, and welcome to the New York Fed’s third Economic Inequality Policy Forum. It’s a pleasure to speak with all of you who are joining us for this conversation. For me, today’s event is about sharing research and hearing your recommendations, so I’m going to keep my opening remarks brief. Before I continue, let me give the disclaimer that the views I express are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Open Market Committee or anyone else in the Federal Reserve System. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we’ve seen severe economic pain, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and enormous uncertainty about the future. The health and economic effects of COVID-19 have created tremendous hardship for many Americans across the country, but they have been especially painful for communities of color. We know that people of color and Black people in particular have experienced higher rates of illness and death.