ECB: Euro zone remains fragile

2016 will be a no less challenging year for the ECB, while euro zone faces uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy, Mr. Draghi said

The future of the global economy remains uncertain and there are questions about Europe’s ability to cope with new shocks, the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, said in its annual report for 2015.

Linking the latest events occurred in Greece which would have led to a Grexit, if no agreement had been reached in July, he stressed the need to complete the Monetary Union.

“2016 will be a no less challenging year for the ECB. We face uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy. We face continued disinflationary forces. And we face questions about the direction of Europe and its resilience to new shocks. In that environment, our commitment to our mandate will continue to be an anchor of confidence for the people of Europe,.” Draghi wrote in the report.

He mentions: “The ECB’s second contribution to confidence in 2015 was to address threats to the integrity of the euro area. These mainly concerned events in Greece in the first half of the year. Uncertainty about the commitment of the new government to its macroeconomic adjustment programme led to both banks and the government losing market access, and to depositors stepping up withdrawals of their money from banks. The Eurosystem provided a lifeline to the Greek banking system through its emergency liquidity assistance (ELA).”

Click here to read the full report.