Comments by ECB president, Christine Lagarde
- Euro area economy continues to grow broadly in-line with expectations
- Domestic economy remains relatively resilient
- Global factors weigh on euro area growth
- Inflation expectations are firmly anchored
The full text of her speech can be found here. The headline remark on a reduced scope to ease policy needs to be taken in the context that she's referring to the global landscape:
"This low interest rate and low inflation environment has significantly reduced the scope for the ECB and other central banks worldwide to ease monetary policy in the face of an economic downturn."
In that sense, it doesn't really say much because the ECB also has to be aware of potential side effects of having to ease monetary policy further from hereon. But on its own, the message does sound a bit hawkish but I would not really focus on that too much.
