The President of the European Central Bank, Mrs Christine Lagarde said that the ECB will start its strategy work in January 2020. According to her, the central bank will engage with different stakeholders like the Members of the EU Parliament, civil societies, academics and investors in order to deliver its mandate in Europe.
– The Central bank´s strategy will include all the major changes the economy is facing like the big technology change, climate change and inequality issues, she said in the press conference in Frankfurt on Thursday.
She did not close much details of the framework as such, while it is still under consideration in the Governing Council. The new strategy will be ready during the next year´s time. The EU´s Climate Change package “the Green Deal” will be part of the work as the digital currency and the digital payment system as well.
According to Lagarde, she is in favour of the digital currency and digital payment as she mentioned that it would be good that “the ECB would be ahead of the tech curve”.
The Central Bank has formed a Taskforce for the digital currency and according to her there are several piloting projects “here and there” in order to get better understanding of the possibilities the new currency could provide. The piloting is expected to be ready by the mid 2020.
The new ECB President also emphasised the independence of the Central Bank. – Independence is important, she said and urged the fiscal policy makers to take the full advantage of the monetary policy in their decision making processes. – It takes monetary policy, fiscal policy and structural changes, in order to make the ballet of the economy, she referred.