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The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a taper of its quantitative easing program at its September 9 decision. Net purchases under the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) will slow in the fourth quarter of 2021 to a “moderately lower pace” than in the second and third quarters. Like previous PEPP announcements, the ECB did not set a quantitative target for purchases. Monthly PEPP purchases averaged about €60 billion in the first quarter of 2021 and rose to about €80 bn in the second and third quarters, so “moderately lower” than that could mean €65bn to €70bn. A vague target leaves the ECB wiggle room to raise the pace if financial conditions worsen, or lower it if inflation accelerates.
