ECB PLAYS FOR TIME.

For its first meeting of 2014, on 9 January, the European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to avoid any action and simply confirm its willingness to intervene if necessary to support the recovering eurozone.

In the final days of December, ECB President Mario Draghi stated that he did not see a "need to act" on interest rates that were already at a historically low level: 0.25% since November. It was a step that was justified by incredibly low inflation in the eurozone (0.7% in October), and the prospect of seeing it stay low for the time being. In 2014, the ECB expects, to this effect, a 1.1% rise in prices across the eurozone - which has now been extended to Latvia - followed by 1.3% in 2015, which is well below the recommended...