FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank has delayed its overarching strategy review by six months until mid-2021 to focus on fighting the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, it said on Thursday.
“In the current situation, the decision-making bodies and staff of the ECB and the national central banks of the Eurosystem are focusing all their efforts on addressing the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic,” the bank said in a statement.
The bank also said that it would delay its annual policy conference in Sintra, Portugal, normally held in early summer, to November.
The review, launched in January, was expected to study the ECB’s foray into unconventional policy and redefine the bank’s long-undershot inflation target.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Francesco Canepa)
