Speakers
Chair
Ashok Bhatia
Director, Offices in Europe; Senior Resident Representative to the European Union - International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Public Authorities
Alfred Kammer
Director, European Department - International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Mārtiņš Kazāks
Governor and Member of the Governing Council of the ECB - Bank of Latvia
Clara Raposo
Vice-Governor - Bank of Portugal
Johan Van Overtveldt
Chair & MEP - Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, European Parliament
Boštjan Vasle
Governor - National Bank of Slovenia
Boris Vujčić
Governor - Croatian National Bank
Guillaume-Pierre Wunsch
Governor and Member of the Governing Board of the ECB - National Bank of Belgium
Objectives of the roundtable
Inflation, although falling, remains well above the 2% target: euro area headline inflation was 5.3% in July 2023, down from 6.1% in May, while core inflation remained unchanged at 5.5%.
The inflation process has become more persistent. According to the ECB, “we will face several years of rising nominal wages, with unit labour cost pressures exacerbated by subdued productivity growth.
Points of discussion
- What further steps should the ECB take to address persistently high inflation? Are real interest rates where they need to be?
- What are the challenges and concerns raised by the €3.6 trillion of excess liquidity in the euro area and how should they be addressed? In addition to QT, should higher reserve requirements play a role in helping to sterilise this liquidity?