-Mario Draghi, ECB President
A sustained economic recovery is finally taking hold in the currency bloc thanks to the central bank's stimulus as well as cheaper oil prices, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said. Draghi's comments are supported by growing confidence among consumers and businesses and banks' increasing willingness to lend. Draghi also urged countries to make a "quantum leap" towards greater European integration, as well as pass tough structural reforms to create a more business-friendly environment.
In the meantime, Ignazio Visco, a member of the ECB Governing Council and Italy's central bank governor, said the Euro had dropped faster than expected since the ECB first announced its quantitative easing programme and there were risks the scheme could overshoot its goal, as well as trigger an excessive increase in the prices of financial and real estate assets. The central bank began buying sovereign bonds last week to underpin economic growth and inflation in the Euro zone. The Euro dropped 3% since then and has now lost 25% of its value versus the US Dollar since May last year. Meanwhile, Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said that Grexit would trigger a domino effect, with Spain and Italy following Greece and end up leaving the currency bloc. Moreover, Kammenos added that Greece was losing a lot of money due to the European Union's sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, suggesting that Athens needed compensation from the EU.
© Dukascopy Bank SA