European Central Bank President warns over the euro's rapid appreciation

The single currency is up around 16 per cent against the dollar since the turn of the year

Ben Chu
Economics Editor
Thursday 07 September 2017 13:41 BST
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The President of the European Central Bank has sounded a warning about the rapid appreciation of the euro.

Mr Draghi said there were concerns expressed by "most members" of the ECB's governing council at its meeting this week over the euro exchange rate.

The euro is up around 16 per cent against the dollar since the turn of the year, and this has been blamed for helping to keep inflation below the central bank's target.

"The recent volatility in the exchange rate represents a source of uncertainty which requires monitoring with regard to its possible implications for the medium-term outlook for price stability," he said.

"The exchange rate is not a policy target, but it's very important for growth and inflation."

Holger Schmieding of Berenberg Bank said: "By ECB standards, that counts as a significant verbal intervention into foreign exchange markets."

The euro climbed in value to $1.20, up around 0.9 per cent on the day, in the immediate wake of Mr Draghi's remarks as many traders bet that robust growth would, nevertheless, soon cause the ECB to announce a "tapering" of its €2 trillion money printing programme.

However, the single currency later came back down to to $1.983.

"Draghi’s probably done enough to slow the appreciation in the euro but not the path of travel, which is up. There’s no question that the ECB is worried about the euro’s appreciation but there’s little he can actually do about it," said Patrick O'Donnell of Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Mr Draghi said that the ECB would likely begin the "calibration of [monetary] policy instruments" in October taking into account the growth outlook, implying a possible announcement of further tapering.

The ECB is currently purchasing €60bn of eurozone bonds a month.

The programme is due to run until December but is likely to be extended.

"Patience is needed," Mr Draghi added in his regular press conference in Frankfurt.

Eurostat confirmed on Thursday that GDP growth was 0.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2017.

But the eurozone's inflation in August was 1.5 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent in July but still below the ECB's target of just below 2 per cent.

Core inflation was unchanged at 1.2 per cent.

Yesterday the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, called for the ECB's money printing to end saying "we should get back to a normal monetary policy".

But Mr Draghi defended the ECB's continued loose monetary policy stance, stressing that it had delivered the eurozone's current recovery and falling unemployment.

"All countries benefited greatly from this monetary policy...this angst has no basis that can justify [it]" he told reporters.

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