What changed in the European Central Bank statement — 23 January 2020

European Central Bank held policy at -0.50%. The January 2024 statement is a copy-paste of December 2019 with no changes to rates, QE, or forward guidance. The strategy review is a forward-looking exercise with no immediate policy implications, so the overall message remains firmly accommodative.

Decision

Decision: hold
Deposit facility rate: -0.50%

Going into the decision

On the day, the committee read as dovish — -1.5 on a scale where +3 means every member wants higher rates and −3 means every member wants cuts.

Reconstructed from official member remarks published before the decision date. 3 of 27 active members had stored official remarks.

What changed

The January 2024 statement is a copy-paste of December 2019 with no changes to rates, QE, or forward guidance. The strategy review is a forward-looking exercise with no immediate policy implications, so the overall message remains firmly accommodative.

Inflation — Little changed. Inflation outlook language unchanged; the condition for rates remains the same robust convergence to below 2%.
Labour Market — Little changed. Labour market not discussed; no material change in characterisation.
Rate Path — Little changed. Forward guidance on rates identical: 'present or lower levels' until inflation condition is met; no shift in stance.
Balance Sheet — Little changed. APP pace and reinvestment commitment unchanged; the only new element is a strategy review, which is neutral for balance sheet stance.

Previous wording

At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50% respectively.
rate path: No change in rates, as expected.

On 1 November net purchases were restarted under the Governing Council’s asset purchase programme (APP) at a monthly pace of €20 billion.
rate path: Confirms ongoing QE at current pace.

Current wording

the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50% respectively.
rate path: Rates unchanged as expected; no surprise.

The Governing Council will continue to make net purchases under its asset purchase programme (APP) at a monthly pace of €20 billion.
rate path: QE continues at current pace, maintaining stimulus.

Official statement

23 January 2020

Monetary policy decisions

At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50% respectively. The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2% within its projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics.

The Governing Council will continue to make net purchases under its asset purchase programme (APP) at a monthly pace of €20 billion. The Governing Council expects them to run for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of its policy rates, and to end shortly before it starts raising the key ECB interest rates.

The Governing Council intends 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 it starts 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.

The Governing Council also decided to launch a review of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy. Further details about the scope and timetable of the review will be published in a press release today at 15:30 CET.

The President of the ECB will comment on the considerations underlying these decisions at a press conference starting at 14:30 CET today.

Background reading

Cadence's comparison is generated from the official documents. Read the methodology.