Comments by ECB governing council member, Ewald Nowotny

  • Eurozone economy should at least stabilise in 2H 2019
  • It's not yet time for ECB to introduce rate tiering
  • Says that ECB shouldn't use tiering to keep rates low permanently

Nowotny is following suit from Hansson's remarks earlier than the economy should at least show signs of life again in 2H 2019. And that's the key risk here in my view. As policymakers start pinning their hopes of an economic rebound in the second half of this year, we may just get a repeat of 2018 before they revise the forward guidance again as we saw back in March this year.