A senior European Central Bank executive has said publishing the interest rate forecasts of its policymakers — similar to the US Federal Reserve’s so-called “dot plot” — could help to address shortfalls in its communication and tackle market volatility.
Isabel Schnabel, one of the most influential voices on the ECB’s board, said in a speech on Wednesday that the central bank may benefit from adopting some of the ideas raised by former Fed chair Ben Bernanke in his recent review of the Bank of England’s forecasting processes.
“Some of the points he [Bernanke] raised could also be of relevance to the ECB,” Schnabel said. “One area of reflection relates to whether policymakers’ views on their expected future path of short-term interest rates should be made more transparent, akin to the ‘dot plot’ used by the Federal Reserve System.”