HIGHLIGHTS-Lagarde comments at ECB press conference

It will need to be firmly rooted in sound structural policies. FRONTLOADED PEPP We have front-loaded (PEPP) purchases - just to remind you, we have purchased over 360 billion euros in the first couple of months and that was at the end of June, effectively. PEPP PLANS It is effective, it is adequate and it is working.

The European Central Bank left policy unchanged on Thursday, as expected, scrutinising instead the effectiveness and any unwanted side-effects of its crisis-fighting measures. Following are highlights of ECB President Christine Lagarde's comments at a post-policy meeting press conference.

ACTIVITY RESUMES Incoming information ... signals a resumption of euro area economic activity, although the level of activity remains well below the levels prevailing before the coronavirus pandemic, and the outlook remains highly uncertain.

UNEVEN, PARTIAL RECOVERY Both high-frequency and survey indicators bottomed out in April and showed a significant, though uneven and partial, recovery in May and June alongside the ongoing containment of the virus and the associated easing of the lockdown measures.

JOB LOSSES WEIGH Actual and expected job and income losses and the exceptionally elevated uncertainty about the evolution of the pandemic and the economic outlook continue to weigh on consumer spending and on business investment.

PRICE PRESSURE VERY SUBDUED Headline inflation is being dampened by lower energy prices and price pressures are expected to remain very subdued on account of the sharp decline in real GDP growth and the associated significant increase in economic slack.

UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK Uncertainty over the scale of the rebound remains high ... The balance of risks remain on the downside.

AMPLE STIMULUS Ample monetary stimulus remains necessary to support the economic recovery and to safeguard medium-term price stability.

SLOWER PACE We have slowed down a little bit the pace of purchases. Unless there were significant upside surprise (to economic outlook), our baseline remains we will use the entire envelope of PEPP.

NEXT GENERATION We strongly welcome the European Commisssion's EU next generation proposal. It will need to be firmly rooted in sound structural policies.

FRONTLOADED PEPP We have front-loaded (PEPP) purchases - just to remind you, we have purchased over 360 billion euros in the first couple of months and that was at the end of June, effectively.

PEPP PLANS It is effective, it is adequate and it is working. We have not discussed that (altering PEPP programme) ... We do not see a need to revisit.

GOOD PLACE During this meeting of the Governing Council, we really spent a good deal of time looking at the economic circumstances ... And really, seeing the developments in the economy, we really felt that we were in a good place at the moment.

We have taken into account the risk of a second wave.