"We are fully committed to maintaining price stability over the medium term, that is, inflation below, but close to, 2%, and we have been absolutely clear that our inflation objective is symmetric: low inflation is as bad as high inflation."
- Benoît Coeuré, ECB Executive Board member
It is extremely difficult to say what will happened with the EU economy is the foreseeable future, as on part of analysts believe the worst is over and the bloc will start gaining momentum, while another part expressed their concerns additional action from the ECB will be required.
The latest poll conducted by Bloomberg showed that investors, analysts and traders, who are their subscribers, said the 18-nation bloc's financial crisis is over, with 57% of respondents being optimistic about future prospects. A vast majority of investors believe that Europe's bond markets have finally stopped decaying, marking the first time in two years when majority signalled an end to the sell-off. During this month, the average yields on bonds in highly indebted countries like Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, reached a record lows, reflecting improved sentiment among investors and market participants.
On the contrary, the OECD's chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan expressed his concerns the ECB should be prepared to use alternative tools like QE or a negative deposit rate, as deflation risk remains high. Two days ago the IMF said there is a 10-20% chance that consumer prices will continue falling in the common currency area.
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