In the European Parliament in Brussels, the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) holds a hearing with Christine LAGARDE, President ECB, ahead of its vote on the 2019 ECB annual report. MEPs may raise the issues of monetary policy in a slowing economy and amid trade tensions, crypto assets and the strategies used by the ECB to implement environmental principles, such as buying green bonds.

Monetary Dialogue with Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank: extracts from the opening statement by Christine LAGARDE

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Arrival of Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank (4 shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank, Structural challenges, such as new threats to environmental sustainability, rapid digitalisation, globalisation and evolving financial structures, have also affected price developments and, therefore, the environment that central banks monitor, forecast and need to factor into their policies.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank, Broadly in line with our expectations, the euro area economy continues to grow, though still with modest momentum. The domestic economy remains relatively resilient. Private consumption, for instance, increased by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2019 on the back of further improvements in labour market conditions. The unemployment rate stands at 7.4%, its lowest since July 2008. The number of people employed keeps increasing and has increased by more than 11 million since mid-2013.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank, The euro area economy therefore continues to require support from our monetary policy, which provides a shield from global headwinds. We see that our policy stimulus is being passed on to the financing conditions most relevant for the real economy. According to latest data, lending rates for businesses are almost 10 basis points lower than they were one year ago, and for households for house purchases they are almost 40 basis points lower and close to their historical lows.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank, In this environment, authorities should continue to use targeted macroprudential measures to address the associated risks to financial stability. At the same time, fiscal and structural policies also have an important role to play in a low interest rate environment. They can lift the growth momentum and boost potential through higher productivity growth. This would, in turn, support the effectiveness of our measures and also help interest rates to rise again in due time.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank, We aim to learn directly from civil society organisations and the people what matters most to them &ndash; be that rising rents and house prices, job uncertainty or climate change &ndash; and we will assess how we can best take these concerns into account in our actions and our communication, within the limits of our mandate.

Event date	06/02/2020
Reference:	I184001V
Format:	16:9 format
Copyright:	© European Union
copyrightYear:	2020

Monetary Dialogue with Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank: extracts from the opening statement by Christine LAGARDE

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