The European Central Bank on Thursday stuck to its earlier announcements to wind down monetary stimulus and charted out a policy normalization plan, which economists said was gradual and hawkish. The Governing Council, led by ECB President Christine Lagarde, called the Russian invasion of Ukraine "a watershed for Europe" and expressed full support to the people of Ukraine. The bank said it will ensure smooth liquidity conditions and implement the sanctions decided by the EU and governments.
The ECB policymakers revised the purchase schedule for its asset purchase program, or APP, for the coming months and now sees monthly net purchases to total EUR 40 billion in April, EUR 30 billion in May and EUR 20 billion in June.
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Business News
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.