mario draghi : ecb press conference – introductory statement introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, and mr victor constancy, vice - president of the european central bank, valletta, 22 october 2015. * * * ladies and gentlemen, the vice - president and i are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. i would like to thank governor benicia for his kind hospitality and express our special gratitude to his staff for the excellent organization 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, the governing council decided to keep the key ecb interest rates unchanged. as regards non - standard monetary policy measures, the asset purchases are proceeding smoothly and continue to have a favorable impact on the cost and availability of credit for firms and households. the governing council has been closely monitoring incoming information since our meeting in early september. while euro area domestic demand remains resilient, concerns over growth prospects in emerging markets and possible repercussions for the economy from developments in financial and commodity markets continue to signal downside risks to the outlook for growth and inflation. most notably, the strength and persistence of the factors that are currently slowing the return of inflation to levels below, but close to, 2 % in the medium term require thorough analysis. in this context, the degree of monetary policy accommodation will need to be re - examined at our december monetary policy meeting, when the new euro system staff macroeconomic projections will be available. the governing council is willing and able to act by using all the instruments available within its mandate if warranted in order to maintain an appropriate degree of monetary accommodation. in particular, the governing council recalls that the asset purchase programmer provides sufficient flexibility in terms of adjusting its size, composition and duration. in the meantime, we will continue to fully implement the monthly asset purchases of €60 billion. these purchases are intended to run until the end of september 2016, or beyond, if necessary, and, in any case, until we see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation that is consistent with our aim of achieving inflation rates below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. let me now explain our assessment of the available information in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. euro area real gdp increased by 0. 4 %, quarter on quarter, in the second quarter of 2015, following a rise

stability is covered by the articles, the members will have no obligation to discuss financial stability issues with the imf and even less of an obligation to explain their choices in cases where they do not follow the fund ’ s recommendations. summary and concluding remarks as i said earlier, it is important to clarify the imf ’ s role in the surveillance of the global financial system. my view is that the imf is an institution that is well equipped to perform an independent and stringent analysis of the international financial system. an important aspect to discuss in this context is how to make the best use of the fund ’ s risk analyses, advice and recommendations. first, it is important for the imf to present clear and focused recommendations on global financial stability that are not too general. the imf ’ s consolidated surveillance report has this aim. the report is wide ranging and may easily become toothless, but it has the potential to play a greater role in this context. second, the imf ’ s advice and recommendations will be ineffectual if the member countries do not comply with them. the follow - up of these recommendations must therefore be improved. the imf has now said that the follow - up of advice and recommendations will become a permanent feature of the annual country reviews. sweden welcomes this initiative and looks forward to its full implementation. the follow - up could also comprise recommendations on macroprudential policy, which would also help to achieve the aim of global financial stability. third, moral suasion is the only tool that the imf can use to influence things. it is perhaps also logical that this is the case. international organisations seldom have any other mechanisms for exerting pressure. it is therefore important that the fund is able to “ speak truth to power ” even when speaking to large and powerful countries if it is to have any chance at all to influence things. 5 the notion that the global financial system was largely invulnerable was, as i have said, firmly refuted by the outbreak of the financial crisis. the crisis clearly demonstrated that the surveillance of the global financial system was inadequate and one of the reasons for this was an unclear division of roles between various international bodies. this led to the g20 assuming a leading role and many important and necessary decisions were taken, but this was done on an ad hoc basis by a limited number of countries. this is a problem ; such decisions should be taken in a legitimate way for their impact to be effective. all