(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank will discuss lowering borrowing costs at its next two meetings, according to Governing Council member Olli Rehn. 

“My own assessment is that based on the forecast that has now been received, the risks of premature interest rate cuts in terms of inflation control have substantially decreased — this is also affected by the lowering of the growth forecast,” he said in a blog post on Friday. “We will come back to the matter in the upcoming April and June meetings based on the latest information.”

He also said:

• “The rapid rate of increase in wages maintains service inflation, which is currently the most important factor accelerating inflation”
  • “The faster-than-expected slowdown of inflation in the euro area is also good news because, with the strengthening of the real purchasing power of wage earners, the need to compensate for inflation in the form of higher salary increases decreases”
  • “Salary development is associated with significant uncertainty, which will take time to dissipate”
• “There have also been voices in the discussion that the ECB could not lower interest rates before the Fed, the US central bank. Rumors about this are greatly exaggerated: the ECB is not the Fed’s ‘13th Federal District,’ i.e. one regional central bank”
• “The growth and inflation trends in Europe and the US are currently so different that different paces in monetary policy are also justified”
  • “The ECB conducts an active monetary policy, and in the council we make monetary policy decisions specifically from European points of view, next in April and June”
  • “In any case, easing inflation and strengthening real purchasing power is good news for Finland and Europe in every way”
• For full blog post, click here

Note: Rehn was on leave from the central bank from June to January during his campaign to become Finland’s president. 

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