ECB chief economic Philip Lane said in an interview by El Pais that “the speed at which the economy bounces back will then hinge on whether consumers are more reluctant to consume and businesses hold back on investment.” “From today’s perspective, it looks in any case unlikely that economic activity will return to its pre-crisis level before 2021, if not later.”.
Regarding the upcoming June ECB meeting, Lane said policymakers are “in the process of analyzing the situation”. “If we see that financial conditions are too tight, or the pressure on individual bond markets is not reflecting economic fundamentals, we can adjust the size or duration of our purchases, which we can anyway allocate flexibly over time and market segments, he added.
