Sources comments from the ECB

  • economic growth is held up in line with their official forecasts despite recent week data
  • some governing members remained skeptical over the prospects of a pickup in 2H
  • central bank may need to see a further deterioration in the euro area's growth performance before any downgrade in its forecast can be justified
  • The quarterly forecasting rounds will be delivered in June.
  • In March the forecasts anticipated growth of 1.1% in 2019 and 1.6% in 2020

Draghi said earlier that:

  • information that is become available since the last government Council meeting in early March confirms slower growth momentum extending into the current year
  • the risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook remained tilted to the downside, on account of persistence of uncertainties related to geopolitical factors, threat of protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets
  • ECB might need to soften the impact of its negative interest rates