Frankfurt, April 5, (dpa/GNA) – According to a survey conducted by the European Central Bank (ECB), expectations on inflation in the Eurozone have dropped again.
Expectations for inflation throughout the next twelve months dropped to 4.6% in February from the previous 4.9%, the ECB announced Tuesday. Expectations for inflation in the course of the next three years also dropped slightly from 2.5% to 2.4%.
The ECB is aiming for inflation of 2% in the middle of that time frame.
Despite inflation slowing down considerably, measuring 6.9% in March, it was still clearly above the bank’s target.
The ECB started to tackle high inflation with interest rate increases in the middle of last year. In the meantime, key interest rates have been raised by a total of 3.50 percentage points.
The bank left open the possibility of further tightening interest rates during its interest rate meeting in May.
The Consumer Expectations Survey is published on a monthly basis. About 14,000 people from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium are questioned.
These countries account for about 85% of the economic output in the Eurozone. Inflation expectations play an important role in the European Central Bank’s monetary policy.
GNA