(Reuters) – Discussions about cutting interest rates are premature, Joachim Nagel, a member of the governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB), said on Bloomberg TV on Monday.
“It is too early to talk about rate cuts, inflation is too high,” said Joachim Nagel, considered a “hawk” among ECB governors. “I want to see new data: we will wait until the next meeting of the Board of Governors and we will see.”
Money markets anticipate 150 basis points of rate cuts this year, and estimate that the ECB could ease its policy as early as April.
Joachim Nagel nevertheless stressed that we must avoid making the mistake of lowering interest rates too quickly.
“Maybe we can wait until the summer holidays or later, but I don’t want to speculate,” the Bundesbank president said.
Robert Holzmann, a member of the ECB Governing Council also cited by Bloomberg, declared for his part that we should not “bet” on a reduction in ECB rates this year due to geopolitical tensions which increase the cost of freight.
(Editors Linda Pasquini and Francesco Canepa, Corentin Chappron, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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