The ECB’s assessment of its monetary policy stance is essential for the preparation of its monetary policy decisions. That assessment aims to determine whether monetary policy is contributing to economic, financial and monetary developments in a way that maintains price stability over the medium term. It is one of the important inputs that are examined by the Governing Council of the
ECB when deciding on its monetary policy.
The ECB’s response to the intensification of the financial crisis in the autumn of 2008 is a good illustration of this process – from the assessment of the monetary policy stance to the decision to adjust it, followed by the signalling and implementation of the appropriate stance. The ECB’s broad-based and …ver más…

In the case of the ECB, therefore, this assessment involves two elements: i) the formation of a view on the medium-term inflation outlook, and risks to price stability in particular; and ii) the identification of the contribution that monetary policy (i.e. its current and, given transmission lags, past conduct) makes to the euro area economy and the maintenance of price stability.
Assessing the monetary policy stance in real time is always a challenging exercise. The assessment must take account of the uncertainty surrounding current and future economic conditions and the functioning of the economy, including the transmission of monetary policy itself. Given the uncertainty surrounding any such judgements in real time, the assessment must be broad-based and forward-looking, encompassing all the information relevant to the formation of a view on the risks to price stability in the medium term, including the potential influence of monetary policy. The monetary policy strategy of the ECB ensures a broad-based and medium-term-oriented assessment of the monetary policy stance. In particular, the strategy has a two-pillar structure – comprising both an economic analysis and a monetary analysis – which provides two complementary perspectives on the determination of price