ECB Has Done Most of Its Hiking, Must Wait for It To Take Effect, Villeroy Says

15 April 2023

By Xavier D’Arcy – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank has covered most of the ground it needs to in the fight against inflation, Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau said on Saturday.

In an interview with French public television network TV5Monde, Villeroy, who heads the Banque de France, said that the impact of the ECB’s hikes so far was yet to be felt and had to be examined. This impact would be far more important than the impact of whatever hikes were still to come, he said.

‘There is the possibility of still some way to go, but most of the way is done’, he told viewers.

The ECB had ‘come most of the way and ... we still have to look at this one- to two-year transmission time’, he said.

‘The anti-inflation effect of our past decisions is even more important than the effect of possible future increases that may take place in the next meetings', he said.