ECB Said to Build Taper Consensus as QE Decision Nears
- Scenarios include slowing QE by 10 billion euros a month
- Decision on when to start tapering depends on economic outlook
ECB Said to Talk Taper at the Conclusion of QE
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The European Central Bank will probably gradually wind down bond purchases before the conclusion of quantitative easing, and may do so in steps of 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) a month, according to euro-zone central-bank officials.
An informal consensus has built among policy makers in the past month that asset buying will have to be tapered once a decision is taken to end the program, the officials said, asking not to be identified because their deliberations are confidential. They didn’t exclude that QE could still be extended past the current end-date of March 2017 at the full pace of 80 billion euros ($90 billion) a month.