ECB conference LIVE!
Welcome to our live coverage of the European Central Bank's (ECB) policy decision and press conference, which kicks off at 13:30 London time.
1430: The ECB Governing Council wraps up the meeting by reiterating that the monetary policy in place now should hopefully accommodate growth in the euro-area.
1420: Draghi defends accusations that the ECB is not doing enough to address the fact that inflation is close to zero. He said there are no other central banks with negative deposit rate and finds the description of the ECB as the "guilty actor” unjust.
1416: Draghi stresses again that the ECB has already announced a "massive amount of measures". "We expect it to help the balance sheet over time. We are going to gear policy towards how inflation is looking in coming months. We hope ABS will have a sizeable impact. The potential universe these to programmes - ABS and covered bonds programme - is up to €1trn. We expect to impact on our ultimate yardstick which is inflation. We still stand ready to undertake other measures if needed."
1408: The WSJ asks Draghi how he would explain to a struggling family, how paying more for clothing and petrol would be better. Draghi responds with saying that the ECB takes its policy decision with the view to establishing price stability by raising inflation to its target of close to but under 2%. He says a recent drop in oil prices by at least 6% in dollar prices should support real incomes. However, he says the economy is still weak and reiterates that recovery is weak, fragile and uneven. "We see price pressures in economy...We would also like to see some strengthening in economy."
13:58: On considering QE, Draghi says: "We did a lot of things since June. We lowered interest rates, went negative on the deposit facility, launched a third covered bond programme, launched TLTROs so let’s see." He said the ECB will be closely watching inflation and stands unanimous to use other instrument measures to address risks of too low inflation for too long of time.
1355: Draghi said the ECB will buy debt of countries with ratings below BBB- provided these countries are under a rescue program. For example, Cyprus and Greece.
1352: All the details of ABS (asset-backed securities) will come out in press release at 2:30 London time. Balance sheet is expected to be steered towards the dimension it had at beginning of 2012.
1348: Draghi said structural reforms need to gain momentum in several countries and that euro-area nations should not unravel progress already made.
1344: The president said demand for exports should support recovery but it continues to be dampened by high unemployment and negative loan growth. Heightened geopolitical risks could dampen confidence, he adds. Inflation was at 0.3% in September after 0.4% in August. Compared the previous month this reflects strong decline in energy prices, Draghi said. Annually it is expected to remain at low level in coming months until gradually rising in 2015 and 2016.
1341: The President said if it becomes necessary to address a long period of low inflation, the ECB is unanimous in using unconventional instruments within its mandate.
1340: Draghi says: "Based on regulatory analysis and in line with forward guidance we decided keep rates unchanged. Following decisions September also decided on details of ABS [asset-backed securities] programme. This will allow us to purchase ABS in mid-October. Programme to last at least two years."
1335: President Mario Draghi arrives fashionably late to begin the ECB press conference with his introductory statement, explaining the monetary authority's latest policy decision.
1316: The euro is up 0.05% to $1.2629 following the announcement. Capital Economics says: "The ECB’s decision to leave interest rates on hold was no surprise and the press conference (starting at 13.30 BST) will be of much greater interest – we expect pretty strong hints of forthcoming quantitative easing. President Draghi stated firmly last month that interest rates had finally reached a trough. But with the economic outlook deteriorating further since then and inflation dropping to just 0.3%, the ECB is under pressure to provide more policy support."
1245: The ECB has announced it will keep its key rates unchanged, as forecast by analysts. The bank has decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.05%, 0.30% and -0.20% respectively.