ECB President Piero Cipollone said the ECB will assess the impact of the euro’s strength in March.

The ECB will assess the impact of the recent euro’s rise on consumer price growth in its quarterly forecasts to be released in March, but Executive Board member Piero Cipollone told the Cyprus news agency that recent moves have been rather limited.
According to a record published on the ECB’s website on Sunday, an Italian policymaker said officials consider the exchange rate as one of the factors “forecasting inflation dynamics.” “We will see how the new forecasts turn out and what impact that will have.”
Meanwhile, Cipollone emphasized that the ECB has not set a specific target for the euro, and that the euro exchange rate has been fluctuating around $1.17 to $1.18 for nearly a year. “After the volatility a few weeks ago, the euro exchange rate has now fallen back to the levels of the previous months,” Cipollone said.
ECB officials kept borrowing costs unchanged at their fifth meeting last week, with President Christine Lagarde reiterating that they considered themselves in a “good” position and downplaying the euro’s rise.
Greek Prime Minister Yannis Stournaras told reporters on Friday that policymakers are closely monitoring the exchange rate, but said the moves so far have been “not drastic.” Most investors and economists expect no further rate cuts after the eight cuts to date.
However, eurozone inflation in January was well below the European Central Bank’s target, at only 1.7%. Some policymakers worry that inflation could remain below expectations for an extended period due to a stronger euro and numerous headwinds to economic expansion. Finnish central bank governor Olli Rehn said on Friday that “there is indeed a risk of lower-than-expected inflation,” noting that the stronger euro is one contributing factor.
“We take the exchange rate as an input factor in our forecasts,” said Cipollone, considered one of the most dovish members of the Governing Council. “It’s one of the many input factors we consider when forecasting inflation dynamics.”
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