Bloomberg Survey: ECB to announce extension of QE at its Dec 8 meeting

According to a latest Bloomberg survey, a majority of the economists believes the ECB will announce an extension of asset purchases on Thursday at the current pace of 80 billion euros ($85 billion) a month.

While three quarters of the respondents noted, “Slowly accelerating inflation and a moderate but steady recovery will then give Draghi room to start tapering by late 2017.”

Key Findings from the Survey:

“Eighty-nine percent of the 53 economists surveyed from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 expect the central bank to announce fresh stimulus or QE changes after its Thursday meeting.”

“According to 88 percent of respondents, an extension of QE will require the ECB to tweak some of the parameters that regulate the program, even if an increase in bond yields has alleviated concerns that the central bank will face a scarcity of debt to buy.”

“Seventy-six percent of economists predict price growth will be back in line with the ECB’s goal of below but close to 2 percent before Draghi’s term runs out in 2019, up from 66 percent in October.”

“Tapering will start during 2017, according to 76 percent of respondents, with the third quarter seen as most likely.”