Commentators predict ECB will fail to raise rates in 2019 despite Draghi's positive outlook

QE expected to finish at year end

Industry commentators have warned the European Central Bank (ECB) will not be able to normalise monetary policy next year despite market expectations of an interest rate hike in September 2019.

On 26 November, ECB President Mario Draghi said the Bank was still planning to halt its €2.5trn bond-buying programme at the end of the year despite "somewhat weaker than expected" eurozone growth. Last month, the European Commission's statistics agency Eurostat revealed eurozone GDP grew at its slowest rate in four years in Q3, expanding by just 0.2% in the three months to the end of September, with its largest economy Germany contracting by 0.2%. Speaking to a European Parliament committee in Brussels, Draghi said: "A gradual slowdown is normal as expansions mature and growth conver...