Tomás Carrera de Souza
- 12 August 2026
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 398Details
- Abstract
- The Eurosystem implements its monetary policy through a set of monetary policy instruments (MPIs). This report reviews the main changes in the use of MPIs and the associated developments in the Eurosystem’s monetary policy implementation framework over 2024-25. Inflation returned to the ECB’s medium-term target of 2%, supported by the smooth transmission of monetary policy. After completing the hiking cycle of 2022 and 2023, the ECB began reducing its key interest rates in June 2024. This easing phase occurred alongside further balance sheet normalisation. Holdings in the monetary policy bond portfolios continued to run-off, and funds lent under the third series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) were fully repaid by December 2024. In March 2024, the ECB announced several changes to its operational framework for implementing monetary policy following a review process. Finally, the collateral framework remained broad, while temporary crisis-related measures were phased out and climate-related considerations were further integrated.
- JEL Code
- D02 : Microeconomics→General→Institutions: Design, Formation, and Operations
E43 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
E65 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook→Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
G01 : Financial Economics→General→Financial Crises
- 6 July 2026
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 389Details
- Abstract
- This Occasional Paper reviews evidence from the ChaMP Research Network on the transmission of monetary policy to firms in the euro area. Overall, transmission to firms remains effective, including during the 2022-23 tightening cycle. However, new results show that this transmission is neither uniform nor mechanical. The pass-through from policy rates and other instruments to corporate financing conditions is shaped by multiple layers of heterogeneity that may, in some cases, have aggregate implications. Country-level segmentation, linked to sovereign risk, institutional frameworks and local lending practices, plays an important role in shaping transmission, especially during periods of stress. Beyond cross-country effects, bank balance sheets and business models also influence transmission by affecting the strength of lending responses. In particular, the composition of banks’ liabilities can lead to different speeds of transmission. Firm characteristics further differentiate the impact of monetary policy, with the funding mix playing a critical role. At the contract level, collateralisation and interest rate fixation materially affect both the magnitude and composition of transmission. As some of these heterogeneities may, in certain circumstances, have aggregate implications, this paper explains how a broad and flexible toolkit, centred on the main policy rate and, when needed, complemented by other policy instruments such as asset purchases and targeted liquidity operations, can be deployed in a proportionate manner to ensure effective monetary policy transmission across a structurally diverse monetary union.
- JEL Code
- E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
G32 : Financial Economics→Corporate Finance and Governance→Financing Policy, Financial Risk and Risk Management, Capital and Ownership Structure, Value of Firms, Goodwill
- 30 June 2025
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 372Details
- Abstract
- This report focuses on the implications of the changed inflation environment for the ECB’s monetary policy strategy, including the lessons learned from both the low inflation and high inflation periods, and the transition from one to the other. The starting point of the report is the outcome of the Monetary Policy Strategy Review 2020-21. While the previous review was conducted in an economic environment of low inflation, with interest rates in proximity to the effective lower bound (ELB), the inflation surge that followed the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of a monetary policy strategy that enables the Governing Council to effectively respond to major changes in the inflation environment.