mario draghi : ecb press conference - introductory statement introductory statement by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, and mr luis de guindos, vice - president of the european central bank, frankfurt am main, 12 september 2019. * * * 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. based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we have conducted a thorough assessment of the economic and inflation outlook, also taking into account the latest staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area. as a result, the governing council took the following decisions in pursuit of its price stability objective. first, as regards the key ecb interest rates, we decided to lower the interest rate on the deposit facility by 10 basis points to – 0. 50 %. the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the rate on the marginal lending facility will remain unchanged at their current levels of 0. 00 % and 0. 25 % respectively. we now expect the key ecb interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until we have seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2 % within our projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics. second, the governing council decided to restart net purchases under its asset purchase programme ( app ) at a monthly pace of €20 billion as from 1 november. we expect them to run for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of our policy rates, and to end shortly before we start raising the key ecb interest rates. third, we intend to continue reinvesting, in full, the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the app for an extended period of time past the date when we start raising the key ecb interest rates, and in any case for as long as necessary to maintain favourable liquidity conditions and an ample degree of monetary accommodation. fourth, we decided to change the modalities of the new series of quarterly targeted longer - term refinancing operations ( tltro iii ) to preserve favourable bank lending conditions, ensure the smooth transmission of monetary policy and further support the accommodative stance of monetary policy. the interest rate in each operation will now be set at the level of the average rate applied in the eurosystem ’ s main refinanc

3. 9 % in july 2019. the annual growth rate of overall loans to non - financial corporations continues to be solid, although short - term loans – which are more sensitive to the cycle – show signs of weakness. the annual growth rate of loans to households stood at 3. 4 % in july, after 3. 3 % in june, continuing its gradual improvement. overall, loan growth is still benefiting from historically low bank lending rates. the monetary policy measures we have taken today, including the more accommodative terms of the new series of tltros, will help to safeguard favourable bank lending conditions and will continue to support access to financing, in particular for small and medium - sized enterprises. to sum up, a cross - check of the outcome of the economic analysis with the signals coming from the monetary analysis confirmed that an ample degree of monetary accommodation is still necessary for the continued sustained convergence of inflation to levels that are below, but close to, 2 % over the medium term. in order to reap the full benefits from our monetary policy measures, other policy areas must contribute more decisively to raising the longer - term growth potential, supporting aggregate demand at the current juncture and reducing vulnerabilities. the implementation of structural policies in euro area countries needs to be substantially stepped up to boost euro area productivity and growth potential, reduce structural unemployment and increase resilience. the 2019 country - specific recommendations should serve as the relevant signpost. regarding fiscal policies, the mildly expansionary euro area fiscal stance is currently providing some support to economic activity. in view of the weakening economic outlook and the continued prominence of downside risks, governments with fiscal space should act in an effective and timely manner. in countries where public debt is high, governments need to pursue prudent policies that will create the conditions for automatic stabilisers to operate freely. all countries should reinforce their efforts to achieve a more growth - friendly composition of public finances. likewise, the transparent and consistent implementation of the european union ’ s fiscal and economic governance framework over time and across countries remains essential to bolster the resilience of the euro area economy. improving the functioning of economic and monetary union remains a priority. the governing council welcomes the ongoing work and urges further specific and decisive steps to complete the banking union and the capital markets union. we are now at your disposal for questions. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches