ECB sees no reason to change current loose monetary policy

The European Central Bank (ECB) has not yet seen sufficient evidence to alter its assessment of the inflation outlook, therefore, it won't reassess the current monetary policy, said ECB president Mario Draghi Thursday.

Draghi said the ECB's monetary policy was working and the outlook for the eurozone economy was gradually improving.

Before any changes are made to the current monetary policy, including interest rates, asset purchases and forward guidance, there needs to be sufficient confidence in the recovery of inflation towards ECB's target over a medium-term horizon, Draghi said.

The euro area has seen a dramatic rise in the inflation rate since last November. In the meantime, the year-on-year Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) growth peaked at 2.0 percent this February before falling to 1.5 percent in March.

In Draghi's view, this was mostly due to energy and food price inflation, whereas underlying inflationary dynamics remained weak.

The core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy in the euro area, has hovered around 0.9 percent since mid-2013, which Draghi said "shows few convincing signs of an upward trend".

The ECB has established four criteria to confirm a sustained adjustment in inflation, by which it assesses whether or not it's reasonable to withdraw stimulus. So far, these criteria have not be met. Endit