The eurozone's annual price inflation rate hit 5 percent in December 2021 and (as of this writing) the consensus is for 5.1 percent in January 2022. Eurozone industrial producer prices were up 26.2 percent in 2021.

This has been pressuring the European Central Bank (ECB) to adopt a tight monetary policy (or at least a less loose one). On February 3, the ECB announced its monetary policy decisions regarding the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP) and the Asset Purchase Program (APP), its asset purchase programs, and interest rates, with no major changes compared to the previous announcement in December.

The Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program

In the Q1 2022, the ECB intends to carry out net asset purchases through the PEPP at a slower pace than in Q4 2021 and should discontinue net asset purchases at the end of March 2022.