(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank Governing Council member Pablo Hernandez de Cos struck an optimistic tone on euro-area inflation slowing to target, the latest signal that officials will cut interest rates next month.

“All in all, we are increasingly confident that we are on the right track to achieve our 2% inflation target relatively soon,” the Spanish central banker said Wednesday, adding that while the “disinflationary process is fairly advanced” it is “yet to be completed.”

De Cos spoke at the London School of Economics a day after after euro-area data showed that the recent slowdown in inflation stalled in April, holding at 2.4%. Still, gains in services prices eased to 3.7% after five months at 4%.

While policymakers — including de Cos — appear united on a June 6 reduction in borrowing costs, what happens after that is still unclear. Dovish Governing Council members are pushing for back-to-back moves, while hawkish officials have been more reluctant.

De Cos, whose non-renewable term ends just days after the ECB’s June decision, also noted that a “stronger-than-expected monetary policy impact remains a downside risk to the euro-area growth outlook, which, in turn, is an important factor behind our assessment that the risks to the inflation outlook are now balanced.”

Speaking more generally on the impact of the last tightening cycle — which took the deposit rate from -0.5% to 4% — de Cos highlighted that the transmission of monetary policy appeared to have been more intense than in past periods.

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