Skip to main content
Thursday, November 12, 2026Nov 12
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

ECB’s Draghi hints at further stimulus for eurozone

President of European Central Bank Mario Draghi smiles prior to a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, following a meeting of the ECB governing council. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
President of European Central Bank Mario Draghi smiles prior to a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, following a meeting of the ECB governing council. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) President of European Central Bank Mario Draghi smiles prior to a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, following a meeting of the ECB governing council. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

By Associated Press 4 min read

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The European Central Bank is ready to give the eurozone economy a bigger dose of stimulus should inflation across the 19-country bloc fail to pick up as planned, President Mario Draghi said Thursday.

Following the bank’s decision to keep interest rates at record lows, Draghi said the ECB can add to its 1.1 trillion euro ($1.2 trillion) stimulus program if needed to raise inflation or help the economy in the face of a global slowdown.

The ECB is pumping 60 billion euros a month in newly printed money into the economy through purchases of government and corporate bonds. The program is slated to run at least through Sept. 2016.

Draghi said the program “provides sufficient flexibility in terms of adjusting the size, composition and duration of the program” and that in the meantime the bank “will fully implement” the planned monthly purchases.

The stimulus is intended to help get consumer price inflation back toward the ECB’s target of just below 2 percent. In the year to August, it stood at 0.2 percent. Draghi said it could go negative in coming months following the recent drop in oil prices.