the recent fall in oil prices, which should be helpful in containing inflationary pressure and supporting the real disposable income of households, thereby sustaining consumption in many countries. with regard to economic growth in the euro area, it would be premature to offer a firm assessment of the macroeconomic impact of the tragic events in the united states and current activities to combat global terrorism. at present, there are no major imbalances in the euro area which would require a longer - term adjustment process. on account of policies aimed at price stability, fiscal consolidation, wage moderation and structural reform, the euro area fundamentals remain very positive. financing conditions are favourable and inflation is declining. the mere existence of the euro has sheltered the countries of the euro area from adverse intra - european exchange rate tensions, which had typically plagued many countries when external shocks occurred in the past. taken together, all these elements should provide a much better base than in the past for a recovery in the course of next year once the initial shock has been absorbed. however, notwithstanding all these positive aspects, we will continue to monitor downside risks to the current situation. against this background, we are confident that inflation in the euro area will continue to decline to a level consistent with price stability. receding external price pressures, combined with the expected continuation of wage moderation, underpin this expectation. for the time being, we thus see a confirmation of our earlier assessment, which led us to reduce the key ecb interest rates by 50 basis points on 17 september. in fact, the recent events strengthened tendencies towards lower rates of inflation that were already prevailing before. given their nature and their expected economic consequences, the terrorist attacks clearly warranted a prompt, flexible and appropriate response by the governing council, in the context of the medium - term - oriented monetary policy strategy of the ecb. regarding fiscal policies, there have been very encouraging signs of firm fiscal consolidation in a significant number of euro area member states over past years, whereas, in a few other countries, progress towards balanced fiscal positions has been slower. it is natural for an economic slowdown to have adverse effects on member countries'budget positions, and there is no need for immediate countervailing actions. however, a short - lived slowdown should not drastically change the scope for reaching the targets set in the countries'stability programmes. for countries with a budget position still not close to balance or in surplus it is important to adhere to their medium - term consolidation plans. turning

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