The European Central Bank published a blog post examining how central banks are increasingly using visual communication and plain language to explain monetary policy to the wider public. It argues that reaching beyond specialists matters for policy effectiveness because consumers’ inflation expectations play an important role in monetary policy transmission, and because communication that helps people understand policy actions can support credibility. The post highlights examples across regions, including visual “at a glance” monetary policy statements and multilingual summaries (Bank of Uganda, Bank of Namibia, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas), visual companions to economic outlook reports (Bank of Japan), layered communication and interactive tools (Reserve Bank of New Zealand), public-facing snapshots of monetary policy reports (Banco Central de Chile and Banco Central de Paraguay), and video-based outreach (Bank of Jamaica), alongside the Bank of England’s visual report summaries. For the ECB, it points to changes following the 2021 monetary policy strategy review, including “Our monetary policy statement at a glance” with visuals and accessible messages in all 24 EU languages, distributed via Eurosystem websites and social media, with around 1,800 ECB website users reading the statement on press conference day compared with close to 15,000 accessing decisions via Instagram.
European Central Bank 2026-01-06
European Central Bank blog surveys central banks’ use of visuals to communicate monetary policy
The European Central Bank published a blog post discussing the increasing use of visual communication and plain language by central banks to enhance public understanding of monetary policy, highlighting examples from various global institutions. The ECB noted its own efforts following the 2021 strategy review, including multilingual visual summaries and social media distribution, significantly boosting engagement.