- Christian Noyer, ECB Governing Council member
The European Central Bank's quantitative easing programme requires time to produce the desired results, namely to underpin price growth in the Euro zone, said Christian Noyer, an outgoing member of the ECB's governing council. Noyer said that "the current program is functioning well", arguing that it is too early to talk about its full effect, as the central bank's QE has been running for just six months. He has been against the idea to expand the programme, as it might prove to be a premature decision. Noyer has been supported by another policy maker, Ardo Hansson, governor of Estonia's central bank, who said that there is no need at the moment for the ECB to announce further stimulus measures at its next meeting in December. Hansson calls for patience to give the policies a bit more time to have an effect.
At the same time, Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said the ECB may need to deploy additional measures to underpin prices, as inflation failed to recover as fast as policy makers has anticipated. The central bank may need to cut its deposit rate further from its current –0.2%, if inflation in the Euro region remains subdued for longer than expected.
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