Under growing pressure over record low-interest rates, the European Central Bank has decided it’s time to give its unconventional policies another look.
The central bank on Thursday launched a review of its strategy, the first since 2003. The ECB is expected to spend the next year evaluating the tools it uses to maintain stable prices, including interest rates and bond purchases. It will also examine how it can take climate change into account.
“We have to look comprehensively at the effectiveness of our monetary policy,” President Christine Lagarde told reporters at a press conference in Frankfurt.
The ECB first introduced negative interest rates for the 19 countries that use the euro in 2014 in a bid to boost inflation and economic activity following the region’s debt crisis. But it has faced increased calls to put an end to a policy that’s dragged on for longer than initially expected.
