14 December 2018 ( Lagos ) : Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), formally announced the end of the Bank's Quantitative Easing (QE) program at yesterday’s meeting. Going into 2019, the European apex bank will end net purchases under the Asset Purchase Program (APP) for the first time in four years but would continue to reinvest the principal payments of maturing instruments as they mature, even when the ECB begins to raise interest rates. The ECB President also revealed that the bank held all interest rates at previous levels at the meeting and delivered a lower growth forecast for 2019 (1.7% y/y), citing persistent uncertainties related to geopolitical factors, the threat of protectionism as well as vulnerabilities in emerging markets. Analysts note that consensus expectation had been of an ECB rate hike sometime in 2019, but this may be threatened by a weaker growth outlook. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold its final meeting of 2018 next week, where it is expected to hike interest rates by 25bps to 2.5%. 

Reporting for EasyKobo on Friday , 14 December 2018 in Lagos, Nigeria

Source: Vetiva Capital Management Limited