Why Quantitative Easing In The Eurozone Will Be Extended
The staff of the European Central Bank has now released the new macro-economic projections for the Eurozone and whilst the introduction sounds optimistic about an ever-increasing GDP and a relatively stable GDP growth rate, reading between the lines suggests we could see an extended Quantitative Easing program.
The ECB is probably correct when it claims the economic recovery will remain ‘robust’, but it also mentions the ‘favorable financing conditions’ as one of the main drivers of this economic recovery. This is quite the ‘catch 22’ scenario. The economy is recovering due to the low interest rate policy of the ECB, but without this ‘easy money policy’, the recovery would be either much slower or non-existing at all. Whilst we have heard several voices from ECB committee members the central bank is getting close to the point it will start to increase the interest rates again, the working paper from the ECB staffers is pretty clear on the need for continuous (monetary) support to protect the current economic recovery.
Source: ECB paper
What’s even more intriguing is the fact the ECB’s assumptions are taking an even LOWER interest rate into account. The study was based on the market circumstances and market expectations as of half August, and back then, the market was taking an average 10 year government bond yield of 1.3% in 2018 and 1.6% in 2019 into consideration. However, this has now been revised downward with approximately 10-20 basis points. This could indicate the market has started to price in a longer period of easy and free money.
And that’s an important starting point. As the loans to businesses (and individuals) are priced based on the anticipated ‘risk-free’ interest rate of a government bond, the lower expectations for sovereign debt yields will trickle down to the ‘real’ economy (underpinning the growth expectations), but it’s unlikely this effect will still be noticeable should the ECB reduce its QE program.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
