(Bloomberg) -- The prospect for European Central Bank officials to raise interest rates again has lessened and may not materialize in the absence of another energy-price shock, according to Governing Council member Pierre Wunsch.

Speaking in Brussels at the presentation of an International Monetary Fund report, the Belgian central bank chief said on Wednesday that the economy is on track for a “soft landing” and that monetary tightening is increasingly seen to be doing its job. 

“Getting to 2% in 2025 is still a long way, so let’s not get excited,” he said. “Of course, if we would have bad news on the upside, we would have to do more, but that has become less likely again, unless we have a shock on the energy front.”

Wunsch is habitually one of the most hawkish members of the 26-member Governing Council, and his remarks may support the view that borrowing costs in the euro region have reached a peak. Officials left the deposit rate at 4% last month, their first decision to keep it unchanged since they began a tightening cycle in mid-2022.

Other observations by Wunsch include: 

• Growth risks are “tilted to the downside”
• Price risks are tilted “toward higher inflation”
• The euro zone is “entering some weak form of stagflation — we’re probably in it right now.”

Read more: Europe Faces Soft Landing With High Rates Still Needed, IMF Says

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