2018.01.2523:14:00UTC+00Some ECB Officials Favor June for Next Policy Shift

As the European Central Bank considers when to start signaling the end of its crisis-era stimulus, some officials prefer delaying any significant change in language until June, according to people familiar with the matter.

One faction of the Governing Council wants to begin a series of small tweaks in their policy wording at the next meeting on March 8, which sets them on course to tapering their bond-purchasing program, others prefer to gather more evidence that inflation will accelerate, said the people, asking not to be identified because the debate was private. No decision has been taken, the people said.

The ECB's current guidance links the outlook for quantitative easing to progress on bringing inflation sustainably back toward 2 percent. Policy makers agree that their approach must be gradual, their informal talks imply that they're still unsure how to proceed.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment.

ECB President Mario Draghi recently argued that the differences between Governing Council members' perspectives were “much less substantive” than at previous occasions.

Speculation regarding the ECB's next policy step increased after an account of the December meeting revealed that officials “widely shared” the view that guidance would need to evolve gradually, with the first changes potentially already on the cards at the start of the year.