36 of 51 economists polled expect the ECB to taper QE purchases after September

Via Reuters latest polling on expectations for what European Central Bank will do.

Info below via Reuters:

36 of 51 said the ECB would start tapering its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) after the September meeting

• up from nearly 63% last month
• All of the 1.85 trillion euro PEPP envelope would be used up, according to the consensus view of 39 economists, with the lowest expectation pencilled in at 1.5 trillion euros
• "Judging from the current monthly pace of purchases, our assumption of only a gradual reduction of this pace after September, and in the remaining time until March, the envelope will likely be used in full," said Salomon Fiedler, European economist at Berenberg. "Furthermore, by September, the vaccination campaign in Europe should be all but complete ... but if new variants are able to circumvent protection from current vaccines, renewed social distancing would once again put a damper on the economy."

More:

• The ECB was expected to keep its deposit rate unchanged at -0.50% and refinancing rate at zero through to the end of next year.
• Nearly 90% of economists, or 53 of 60, who answered another question said new COVID-19 variants were the biggest risk to the euro zone economy this year.