mario draghi : ecb press conference - introductory statement introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, and mr vitor constancio, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 27 april 2017. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. we will now report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council, which was also attended by the commission vice - president, mr dombrovskis. based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided to keep the key ecb interest rates unchanged. we continue to expect them to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of our net asset purchases. regarding non - standard monetary policy measures, we confirm that our net asset purchases, at the new monthly pace of €60 billion, are intended to run until the end of december 2017, or beyond, if necessary, and in any case until the governing council sees a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation consistent with its inflation aim. the net purchases will be made alongside reinvestments of the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the asset purchase programme. our monetary policy measures have continued to preserve the very favourable financing conditions that are necessary to secure a sustained convergence of inflation rates towards levels below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. incoming data since our meeting in early march confirm that the cyclical recovery of the euro area economy is becoming increasingly solid and that downside risks have further diminished. at the same time, underlying inflation pressures continue to remain subdued and have yet to show a convincing upward trend. moreover, the ongoing volatility in headline inflation underlines the need to look through transient developments in hicp inflation, which have no implication for the medium - term outlook for price stability. a very substantial degree of monetary accommodation is still needed for underlying inflation pressures to build up and support headline inflation in the medium term. if the outlook becomes less favourable, or if financial conditions become inconsistent with further progress towards a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation, we stand ready to increase our asset purchase programme in terms of size and / or duration. let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. euro area real gdp increased by 0. 5 %, quarter on quarter, in the fourth quarter of 2016, following a growth rate of 0. 4 %

by 50 basis points on 8 june. the rate on the main refinancing operations has thus reached 4. 25 %. the rates on the marginal lending facility and on the deposit facilities have now been set at 5. 25 % and 3. 25 % respectively. the governing council also decided on 8 june to switch to a new tender procedure for the allotment of liquidity in the main refinancing operations of the eurosystem. i will discuss this issue later. the decisions taken by the governing council of the ecb reflected the forward - looking character of the monetary policy of the eurosystem. i should like to stress that the decisions of the eurosystem should be interpreted as responses to risks to price stability in the medium term before they materialise, rather than as reactions to a situation whereby price stability has already been jeopardised. in this respect, the recent increases in ecb rates have been motivated by a desire to avoid being compelled to take stronger measures at a later stage. i believe this is the best way to fulfil our mandate, as it is defined by the treaty, and thereby to contribute to sustained economic growth in the euro area. the sounder the growth process is, the longer will it normally last. the sounder the growth process is, the more permanent and sustained will the creation of new jobs tend to be. an important question in this context relates to the sustainability of the expansion of economic activity at current growth rates. the answer to this question has important implications for our assessment of the monetary policy stance, as it potentially affects the interpretation of some of the analysis conducted under both pillars of the monetary policy strategy of the eurosystem. at our last meeting in march, i already addressed the issue of the reference value for monetary growth. this reference value is compiled from the estimated trend growth of real gdp, the estimated trend decline in the velocity of circulation of m3 and the quantitative definition of price stability. in the light of the prospects for strong economic growth and upside risks to price stability which i have already mentioned, the question has been raised as to whether these developments would require a revision of the reference value for monetary growth. in this context, i should like to recall the governing council ’ s decision to review the reference value on an annual basis, and that the next review will take place in december 2000. i should also like to emphasise that the reference value is a medium - term concept and does not constitute a monetary target