Rainer Guntermann Quotations

Nobody inside or outside the ECB will be surprised by a 25 basis point rise.

If anything it was a slightly more hawkish spin (than we were expecting).

Unless things go completely wrong, the ECB is prepared to raise rates by a quarter point in March.

We have a more mixed picture (and) that would have made some people rethink economic prospects maybe towards the end of the year.

The preference to creating jobs is increasing and fear of unemployment among people has decreased.

The government has done very little on reforms. We are not getting those reforms which were proposed last year.

It's a strong start to the year and the first quarter looks solid. However, we're not in a boom situation by any means. We're still not seeing any breakthrough on the job market.

For the ECB it's about inflation risk management rather than inflation fighting. That's a crucial difference. If it was about fighting inflation, he could be much more aggressive and pre-commit.

The economic recovery has clearly gained more traction in recent weeks and the more normal growth performance is likely to allow the ECB to continue with its still-young campaign of interest rate normalization.