The assessment confirmed the need to extend the asset purchase programme beyond March 2017 to preserve the very substantial amount of monetary support that is necessary to secure a sustained convergence of inflation rates towards levels below, but close to, 2% over the medium term.

Global activity has improved in the second half of the year and is expected to continue strengthening, although remaining below its pre-crisis pace. Continued accommodative policies and improving labour markets have supported activity in the United States, but uncertainty about the US and global outlook has increased since the US election. In Japan the pace of expansion is expected to remain moderate, while the medium-term growth prospects of the United Kingdom are likely to be restrained by heightened uncertainty related to the country's future relations with the EU.

Euro area sovereign yields have risen recently and the EONIA forward curve has steepened.