mario draghi : ecb press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, brussels, 8 may 2014. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. i would like to thank governor coene for his kind hospitality and express our special gratitude to his staff for the excellent organisation of today ’ s meeting of the governing council. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting, which was also attended by the president of the eurogroup, finance minister dijsselbloem. based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided to keep the key ecb interest rates unchanged. incoming information continues to indicate that the moderate recovery of the euro area economy is proceeding in line with our previous assessment. at the same time, recent information remains consistent with our expectation of a prolonged period of low inflation followed by only a gradual upward movement in hicp inflation rates. the signals from the monetary analysis confirm the picture of subdued underlying price pressures in the euro area over the medium term. inflation expectations for the euro area over the medium to long term remain firmly anchored in line with our aim of maintaining inflation rates below, but close to, 2 %. looking ahead, we will monitor economic developments and money markets very closely. we will maintain a high degree of monetary accommodation and act swiftly, if required, with further monetary policy easing. we firmly reiterate that we continue to expect the key ecb interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time. this expectation is based on an overall subdued outlook for inflation extending into the medium term, given the broad - based weakness of the economy, the high degree of unutilised capacity, and subdued money and credit creation. the governing council is unanimous in its commitment to using also unconventional instruments within its mandate in order to cope effectively with risks of a too prolonged period of low inflation. further information and analysis concerning the outlook for inflation and the availability of bank loans to the private sector will be available in early june. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. real gdp in the euro area rose by 0. 2 %, quarter on quarter, in the last quarter of 2013, thereby increasing for three consecutive quarters. recent data and survey indicators confirm that the ongoing moderate recovery continued in the first quarter of 2014 and at the beginning of the second quarter. looking ahead

, but close to, 2 %. the governing council saw there was a risk of inflation being too low for too long and decided to act under its mandate. this has nothing to do with politics, nor with the future of the euro. as all governing council members have acknowledged, qe is just an instrument of monetary policy. considering the experience in other countries, such as the us, under what conditions will qe have an impact on the real economy? purchases of public securities reduce the borrowing costs of the private sector given that many financial instruments are priced with reference to the domestic sovereign yield curve. they also provide an incentive for banks to supply more credit to firms and households through the so - called “ portfolio rebalancing ” effect, which in turn supports consumption and investment. and finally, they signal that the ecb – in line with our forward guidance – is committed to maintaining an accommodative monetary policy for an extended period of time, which pins down interest rates at a very low level – again benefiting firms and households. we have already seen, after the announcement, some positive effects of our measures in these directions. lending rates to households and firms have come down since the summer across the entire euro area. and credit growth to the private sector turned positive in december – on a month - to - month basis – for the first time since mid - 2012 and continued to recover in january. that said, monetary policy can support short - term growth but it cannot lift production and living standards in a durable way. this can only happen if euro area governments use this window of opportunity to step up reforms in their economies. last, but not least, some questions regarding greece. the greek government has declared that the troika and the memorandum of understanding no longer exist. how would you describe the state of play? on 24 february, the european commission, european central bank and international monetary fund considered the list of reforms presented by the greek government as a valid starting point for a successful completion of the review under the current arrangement, and the eurogroup agreed to extend it by four months. in this context, the authorities have bis central bankers ’ speeches committed to fully cooperate with the three institutions, in order to allow for a speedy and successful conclusion of the review. we are looking forward to working with the greek authorities. time is running short. the new government looks determined to boost reforms. besides, this is the only way in which to restore trust with the european authorities. but