(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank is at a key juncture because it needs to keep persevering with its monetary policy just as consumer-price growth shows signs of slowing, President Christine Lagarde said.
“Now is a moment which is also quite critical because inflation is beginning to go down,” she said in an interview with Spanish state-run channel TVE broadcast Friday. “We are beginning to see efficiency of measures, but we still need to have high and sustainably high interest rates.”
The euro strengthened after her remarks, which hint at a determination to keep plowing on with increases in borrowing costs at a time when inflation may have peaked.
The ECB slowed its pace of rate hikes to 25 basis points this month, and another two such moves are penciled in for upcoming meetings. Some officials reckon even that might not be enough to get inflation to its 2% goal in a timely manner.
“It’s a time when we have to really buckle up and look at this target that we have and deliver on it,” Lagarde said. “We will take all the measures in order to bring inflation back to 2%. We will do it, no question about it.”
Money markets assign around a 90% probability of a quarter-point hike in June and fully price such an increase by July before seeing the deposit rate peaking at just below 3.70%.
“We are heading toward more delicate decisions going forward, but we will be courageous and we will take the decisions that are needed to bring inflation back to 2%,” Lagarde said. “The closer you get to end of journey, and we are not there, but the closer you get the more subtle it becomes and the more difficult it is to caliber the right timing, the right pace and the right level and to reach consensus.”
--With assistance from James Hirai.
(Updates with markets in penultimate paragraph, Lagarde in final.)
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