mario draghi : ecb press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, naples, 2 october 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 visco 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 our meeting. based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, and in line with our forward guidance, we decided to keep the key ecb interest rates unchanged. following up on the decisions of 4 september 2014, we also decided on the key operational details of both the asset - backed securities purchase programme and the new covered bond purchase programme. this will allow us to start purchasing covered bonds and asset - backed securities ( abss ) in the fourth quarter of 2014, starting with covered bonds in the second half of october. the programmes will last for at least two years. together with the series of targeted longer - term refinancing operations to be conducted until june 2016, these purchases will have a sizeable impact on our balance sheet. the new measures will support specific market segments that play a key role in the financing of the economy. they will thereby further enhance the functioning of the monetary policy transmission mechanism, facilitate credit provision to the broad economy and generate positive spillovers to other markets. taking into account the overall subdued outlook for inflation, the weakening in the euro area ’ s growth momentum over the recent past and the continued subdued monetary and credit dynamics, our asset purchases should ease the monetary policy stance more broadly. they should also strengthen our forward guidance on the key ecb interest rates and reinforce the fact that there are significant and increasing differences in the monetary policy cycle between major advanced economies. together with the monetary accommodation already in place, the determined implementation of the new measures will underpin the firm anchoring of medium to long - term inflation expectations, in line with our aim of maintaining inflation rates below, but close to, 2 %. as all our measures work their way through to the economy they will contribute to a return of inflation rates to levels closer to our aim. should it become necessary to further address risks of too prolonged a period of low inflation, the governing council is unanimous in its commitment to using additional unconventional instruments within its mandate. a separate press release will provide further information on the modalities of

, and the flow of loans in recent months has been strong. the monetary analysis has helped to support the necessary medium - term orientation of monetary policy in the face of the ongoing financial turmoil. from this perspective, the monetary analysis points to upside risks to price stability at longer horizons. moreover, a thorough assessment of the monetary counterparts suggests that, as yet, the availability of bank credit to households and non - financial corporations has not been significantly affected by the turmoil. to sum up, a cross - check of the outcome of the economic analysis with that of the monetary analysis clearly confirms the assessment that upside risks to price stability prevail over the medium term, in a context of very vigorous money and credit growth and the absence of significant constraints on bank loan supply up to now. in fact, we noted that risks to price stability over the medium term have increased further. the economic fundamentals of the euro area are sound, and incoming macroeconomic data continue to point to moderate but ongoing real gdp growth. against this background, the governing council is monitoring very closely all developments. it is in a state of heightened alertness. by acting in a firm and timely manner, we will prevent second - round effects and ensure that risks to price stability over the medium term do not materialise. securing a firm anchoring of medium and longterm inflation expectations in line with price stability is of the essence. regarding fiscal policy, the governing council welcomes the spring 2008 orientations for euro area fiscal policies agreed by the eurogroup ministers on 13 may 2008. many euro area governments still need to implement much more ambitious policies to ensure that their country - specific medium - term budgetary objectives are attained by 2010 at the latest, as agreed in berlin in april 2007. achieving and maintaining sound structural fiscal positions is imperative to create scope for the free working of automatic stabilisers in all euro area countries and will help to prepare for the budgetary costs of population ageing. the steady pursuit of prudent and efficient fiscal policies would also help to limit current inflationary pressures and would increase potential growth and employment. as regards structural reforms, the governing council reiterates its full support for all efforts to enhance competition, increase productivity and foster market flexibility. against the background of a marked increase in international food commodity prices, removing impediments to competition at the various stages of the food supply chain in the retail and distribution sectors would benefit european consumers through lower prices. the ongoing “ health check ” of the eu common