(Bloomberg) -- Rapid interest-rate action from the European Central Bank isn’t required, according to Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf.
“There’s no need to actually rush to make decisions,” he told the Irish Examiner in an interview published on Sunday.
The process of bringing inflation back to the ECB’s 2% target is working although the “road has been bumpy,” he was cited as saying by the newspaper.
The Irish central bank chief spoke after policymakers decided to keep borrowing costs on hold last week, with President Christine Lagarde saying the next policy gathering — on Sept. 11-12 — is “wide open.”
Makhlouf echoed that sentiment, telling the paper that “we’ve got no predetermined rate path” and that “we’re adopting a meeting by meeting approach.”
With inflation pressures still lingering, ECB officials are becoming less confident that a path for two further reductions is realistic this year, and don’t want investors to assume that a cut in September is a done deal, according to people with the matter, who declined to be identified because deliberations are private.
Asked about consumer-price growth, Makhlouf acknowledged that “in particular on the services side, we’ve got inflation that is just stronger and continues to be strong,” according to the paper.
“That’s the main thing really that we need to keep an eye on,” he said.
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