(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank Governing Council member Robert Holzmann warned against early interest-rate cuts after fresh data showed euro-area price growth slowed less than anticipated in February.
“We watched inflation data coming in from European and country level, and what we see is that they confirm my view that we have to wait, have to be attentive and cannot rush to a decision,” Holzmann said in Vienna on Friday. “What I’ve seen so far it confirms my view.”
The euro-zone inflation rate dropped to 2.6% last month, missing the economist prediction of a slowdown to 2.5%. That supports ECB officials who don’t want to rush into lowering borrowing costs.
The timing of Holzmann’s comments is unusual as policymakers are supposed to be in quiet spell in the seven days ahead of any rate decisions. The next one is on March 7, which means that period kicked in on Thursday. That didn’t stop Fabio Panetta of Italy, though, who also commented on inflation late yesterday.
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