FRANKFURT (MNI) – Financial market indicators show that price
stability in the Eurozone is very well anchored, European Central Bank
Executive Board member Juergen Stark said Friday.
Therefore, inflation is not seen as a threat at present, the
central banker said in a panel discussion here.
Nevertheless, he acknowledged the concerns in the public that,
given the stimulative policies of governments, inflation will soon be
looming on the horizon.
“We see from the indicators, from financial markets, from
information we extract from these indicators” that “inflation is still
very well anchored in the euro area,” he assured. “We see this also in
the survey of professional forecasters.”
What could lead to higher inflation in the future is monetary
liquidity, Stark mentioned. For now, however, “we don’t see, from the
monetary analysis, any inflationary risks,” he stressed.
Turning to discussions of institutional reform within the currency
union, Stark said that what is and will remain unchanged is “the
foundations [upon] which the ECB is based,” meaning the bank’s mandate
to preserve price stability in the medium term and its independence.
“The independence of the ECB has never been tested because we are,
as the ECB, as the Governing Council of the ECB, independent from
political influence,” he insisted.
“None of the decisions in the past, and none of the decision in the
future, will be influenced by political considerations or by political
pressure from the outside world,” he emphasized.
–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69-720142; frankfurt@marketnews.com
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