BERLIN (Reuters) – The European Central Bank should proceed with caution on further interest rate cuts given inflation had not yet been overcome, Austrian central bank Governor Robert Holzmann told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview published on Monday.
“Inflation is on the right track. But it has not been defeated,” Holzmann was quoted as saying. “I thought the last interest rate cut was right, but that is no reason to assume that further interest rate cuts will automatically follow.”
Holzmann was the only member of the ECB’s 26-member Governing Council to oppose its June rate cut.
“If you look at the more important core inflation rate – where energy and food prices, which are susceptible to fluctuations, are factored out – things do not look so good,” he said.
Euro zone headline inflation dipped below 2% for the first time since mid-2021 in September, reinforcing an already solid case for a ECB rate cut this month as a three-year battle to tame runaway price growth nears its end.
However, underlying prices were still on 2.7%, albeit down from 2.8%.
(Reporting by Birgit Mittwollen, Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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