ECB officials have indicated a growing likelihood of a rate cut as soon as June, though decisions hinge on forthcoming economic projections and persistent inflation concerns.
Bundesbank President and ECB Governing Council member Joachim Nagel voiced cautious optimism to CNBC about the possibility of easing monetary policy, noting, “the probability is increasing” for a rate reduction, albeit with “some caveats” due to still-high core and service inflation rates.
Nagel emphasized that ECB’s upcoming projections in June will be crucial. “For the June meeting, we will get our projections, so we will get our new forecasts and if there is a confirmation that inflation is really going down and we will achieve our target in 2025,” he explained.
In tandem, Mario Centeno, Governor of the Bank of Portugal and fellow ECB Governing Council member, described a rate cut in June as “very likely,” asserting that even with a reduction of 25 or 50 basis the ECB’s monetary policy would remain tight.
Slovenia’s central bank governor Bostjan Vasle projected that interest rates should be “much closer to 3% towards the end of the year if everything goes according to plan.” However, he also expressed concern over recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Greene: BoE in trade-off territory, rate cuts not near
BoE MPC member Megan Greene said at an event overnight that rate cut is no on the immediate horizon. She characterized that BoE is in a “trade-off territory”, in an environment of persistent high inflation coupled with weak growth in the UK.
“We have to weigh the risk of doing too much against the risk of doing too little,” Greene explained.
She expressed a particular concern that being too cautious could lead to more severe consequences down the line: “In my mind, doing too little is the bigger risk because you end up having to hike rates even higher in the end and could end up generating an even bigger recession,” she noted.