About the publications
Monthly Bulletin
Each monetary policy decision, taken monthly by the Governing Council of the ECB, is explained in the respective Monthly
Bulletin. To make the decision more transparent, the Monthly Bulletin provides a detailed analysis of the current economic situation and risks to price
stability.
Contents
The editorial summarises the Governing Council's assessment of present data. To a large extent the editorial contains the same
information as the Introductory Statement given at the monthly press conference where the monetary policy decision
is announced.
The data used by the Governing Council is presented in the following chapters:
- The external environment of the euro area
- Monetary and financial developments
- Prices and costs
- Output, demand and the labour market
- ECB staff macroeconomics projections for the euro area(in the March and September issues)
- Eurosystem staff macroeconomics projections for the euro area (in the June and December issues)
- Fiscal developments (in the March, June, September and December issues)
- Exchange rate and balance of payments developments
- Articles on related topics (except in the March, June, September and December issues)
Cut-off date
The cut-off date for the statistics in each Monthly Bulletin is generally the day preceding the first meeting in the
month of the Governing Council of the ECB.
See the Monthly Bulletins
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Statistics Pocket Book
This compact book is published every month on the same day as the Monthly Bulletin. It offers data with
the same cut-off date. But the data are structured in a slightly different way. The Statistics Pocket
Book contains selected macroeconomic indicators for the individual Member States of the European Union,
as well as comparisons between the euro area, the United States and Japan.
See the Statistics Pocket Books
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Annual Report
This publication describes the activities of the ESCB and reports on monetary policy of both the previous
and the current year.
The Annual Report usually contains eight chapters, plus various annexes:
- Economic developments and monetary policy
- Central bank operations and activities
- Financial stability and integration
- European and international issues
- Accountability
- External communication
- Enlargement of the European Union
- Institutional framework, organisational and annual accounts
- Annexes
See the Annual Reports
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Convergence Reports
In producing this Report, the ECB fulfils the requirement of Article 122.2 in conjunction with
Article 121.1 of the Treaty establishing European Community to report to the Council of
the European Union (Council) at least once every two years - or at the request of a Member State with a
derogation - “on the progress made in the fulfilment by the Member States of their obligations
regarding the achievement of economic and monetary union”. The same mandate has been given to the
European Commission, and the two reports are submitted to the Council in parallel.
See the Convergence Reports
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Economic research publications
The ECB publishes the "Working Paper Series" and an "Occasional Paper Series". The Working Papers disseminate findings within the
field of monetary and general economic research. The Occasional Papers deal often but not exclusively with economic research topics. They seek to present policy-relevant topics to a wide audience, including other policy-makers, academics, the media and the general public. The ECB Occasional Papers makes public material used by the ECB and the Eurosystem.
As regards research in general, the ECB not only organises its own events but also reports on the proceedings of workshops and conferences hosted elsewhere. For details, please the section 'Events' / Conferences & seminars.
See the Working Paper Series
See the Occasional Paper Series
See Conferences & seminars
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Other task-related publications
Examples of these very specific publications are the Legal Compendium which contains all relevant legal texts adopted by the ECB,
the Blue Book about payment and securities settlement systems in both the EU and in the accession countries
but also the General Documentation (the full title is "The implementation of monetary policy in the euro area: General documentation on Eurosystem monetary policy instruments and procedures").
Each Monthly Bulletin contains a list of ECB publications from the previous year up to the month in question.
All publications are listed by activity, reflecting more or less the tasks of the ECB
but also by date.
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