They Said It - Recent Comments of ECB Governing Council Members

23 May 2023

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The following is an overview of key recent comments made by European Central Bank Governing Council members. We include only comments made since the Governing Council meeting of 4 May.

 

 

de Cos (Banco de España)

 

de Guindos (ECB)

 

Centeno (Banco de Portugal)

 

Herodotou (Central Bank of Cyprus)

 

Holzmann (Austrian National Bank)

 

Kazāks (Latvijas Banka)

 

Kažimír (National Bank of Slovakia)

 

Knot (Dutch National Bank)

 

Lagarde (ECB)

 

Lane (ECB)

 

Makhlouf (Central Bank of Ireland)

 

Müller (Eesti Pank)

 

Nagel (Bundesbank)

 

Panetta (ECB)

 

Rehn (Bank of Finland)

 

Reinesch (Central Bank of Luxembourg)

 

Schnabel (ECB)

 

Šimkus (Bank of Lithuania)

 

Stournaras (Bank of Greece)

 

Vasle (Banka Slovenije)

 

Villeroy (Banque de France)

 

Visco (Banca d’Italia)

 

Vujčić (Croatian National Bank)

 

Wunsch (National Bank of Belgium)

 

Christine Lagarde (ECB)
19 May 2023

‘I think that we are heading towards 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%.’

‘The closer you get to the 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 calibrate the right timing, the right pace, the right level, and to reach consensus.’

11 May 2023

‘The ECB is on a journey to fight inflation, and the fight is not over, and it will only be over when we have sufficient confidence that we will reach the 2% target in the medium term. … Inflation has been too high and for too long.’

10 May 2023

‘There are factors that can induce significant upside risks to the inflation outlook. And we are still in a situation where uncertainty about the path of inflation is high, so we have to be extremely attentive to those potential risks, the exact list of which you will find in our latest monetary policy statement, in particular in relation to wage increases in various European countries.’

04 May 2023

‘Under the present circumstances and based on what we have, which is the baseline of March, we know that we have more ground to cover. … our future decisions will ensure that the policy rates will be brought to levels sufficiently restrictive to achieve a timely return of inflation to our 2% medium term target and will be kept at those levels for as long as necessary. We covered a lot of ground in the last nine months, moving from minus 50bp to plus 300bp. We are continuing this hiking process. As I said, this is a journey. We have not arrived yet.’

 

Isabel Schnabel (ECB)
19 May 2023

‘In the current situation, given the resilience of euro area banks, President Lagarde rightly stresses that there is no trade-off between price stability and financial stability. The ECB can continue to do whatever is needed to bring inflation back to our 2% target in a timely manner. This implies raising rates to a sufficiently restrictive level and keeping them at that level for as long as necessary. At the same time, the ECB has the tools to provide liquidity to the euro area financial system, if needed to preserve financial stability and a smooth transmission of monetary policy.’

09 May 2023

‘Based on the current data, there’s no doubt we have to do more to bring inflation back to our goal of 2% in a timely manner. … We see that monetary policy is working […] but we have a lot of uncertainty about how fast and how much. We do not yet see the impact on the real economy.’

 

Philip Lane (ECB)
22 May 2023

‘They [markets] believe that inflation will come back to 2% in a timely manner. Not overnight, but within the foreseeable future.’

09 May 2023

‘Core is going to come down because of the fading out of energy effects and the fading out of pandemic reopening effects. But that could be a misleading signal.’

08 May 2023

‘There’s still a lot of momentum in inflation, but later this year and ongoing a lot of this inflation is supposed to reverse, partly because of the reversal of the underlying shocks, partly because of monetary policy. There’s a lot of disinflation coming later this year.’

 

Luis de Guindos (ECB)
23 May 2023

‘…so far, even with the monetary policy decisions that we have taken, we have not seen any sort of negative feedback in terms of systemic risk.’

‘I am much more afraid of the potential conflict between fiscal and monetary [policy], this is something we have to look at very carefully in future.’

17 May 2023

‘Economic activity in the euro area has held up better than expected and a recession at the turn of the year did not materialise. But growth is still weak and inflation continues to be too high, with underlying price pressures remaining strong. … The challenging outlook heightens the uncertainties surrounding banks’ profitability and resilience.’

14 May 2023

‘The euro area managed to avoid a technical recession. Nevertheless, contractionary monetary policy serves to tighten financing conditions and we have started to see this being felt on the market for bank loans. Banks have started to tighten lending conditions, which shows that monetary policy transmission is working. And we will see what impact this will have on the real economy.’

‘A quarter of a percentage point is “the normal” monetary policy rate hike. Hikes of 50 and 75bp were extraordinary steps in response to extremely high inflation. We have had to raise rates by 375bp: it was an important stage in our journey and inflation is in fact coming down. But we have now entered the home stretch of our monetary policy tightening path. And that’s why we are returning to normality, to 25bp steps.’

‘Looking ahead, it will depend on the data. We will decide on a meeting-by-meeting basis. And based on the evidence of how the tightening of financing conditions has worked. And on the path of inflation, headline and core. … Both will ease in the coming months. Energy prices will be key in determining headline inflation. We will need to consider the base effect as well as the impact of government support measures coming to an end. But core inflation will also be telling. It is a useful indicator for predicting inflation over the medium term. In this regard, I am concerned about service prices, which account for a large share of core inflation. Demand for services in Europe, for example in Italy and Spain, is very strong and highly sensitive to wage and labour market developments. We need to closely observe the impact of wages and services on core inflation.’

11 May 2023

‘There could be more interest rate hikes, but their size will depend on upcoming data and the effect tighter credit will have on economic activity. … There is no doubt headline inflation will continue to ease. But there are more doubts about underlying inflation.’

 

Fabio Panetta (ECB)

 

Joachim Nagel (Bundesbank)
23 May 2023

‘Our job is not done yet. While the headline inflation rate is declining, core inflation is stubbornly high: in April 2023, the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices excluding energy and food in the euro area rose by 5.6% year-on-year. This was only minimally less than in March, when the core rate had reached an all-time high. It shows that the wave of inflation is now broad-based. And that is why there should be no doubt about it: The monetary policy tightening course has not yet reached its end. Several more interest rate steps will be necessary to reach a sufficiently restrictive level. And we will then have to maintain this level for a sufficiently long time. Until inflation has fallen sustainably.’

‘You can count on me not to let up until price stability is restored. Our medium-term target is 2%. No more and no less. And we want to reach this target promptly. This succeeds particularly well if all actors are prepared to do so. That is why it is primarily up to the central banks to send clear and credible signals through their policy decisions and their communication. Then it will also be easier for companies and wage bargaining parties to orient their actions accordingly. For fiscal policy, this means that it should not create additional price pressure in the current environment. Moreover, unsound public finances can make stability-oriented monetary policy much more difficult.’

12 May 2023

‘The data don't allow us to consider changing our view that further rate hikes will be necessary, and that also applies for beyond the summer break. … There's consensus in the Governing Council that interest-rate hikes should continue.’

11 May 2023

‘I guess there’s nothing off the table, so I’m not speculating here. I think what I realise is that first of all -and this is good news – that the headline inflation is coming down. Core is still very sticky, but this is also not a surprise. Food inflation is still very high. So, what I see is that we are coming closer to the restrictive territory, but we are not there. … I think what I see in the numbers is that it will take at least one and a half years until we see numbers that are close to our target. So we have to be patient here.’

10 May 2023

‘But in fact we may then be in the home stretch in the sense that we are entering the area of monetary policy that can be described as restrictive. ... We can already see the first signs that lending, for example, will be more restricted. ... There is still work to be done on the core inflation rate, but I am confident that monetary policy will have an effect. ... We are ... not finished with the rate hikes. There's still work to be done, and we just have to be persistent here.’

09 May 2023

‘The fight against high inflation hasn’t been won yet. I could also have imagined an interest rate step of half a percentage point. But we have already announced further interest rate moves. … The inflation rate may have declined over the past months, but it continues to be far too high. And as for core inflation – that is, headline inflation excluding highly volatile energy and food prices – we are actually seeing barely any movement at all. That’s not a situation we can be satisfied with.’

 

François Villeroy de Galhau (Banque de France)
22 May 2023

‘In the usual alleged time lag of one to two years for monetary transmission, our economic situation makes it likely that we are presently closer to the upper range. And hence the commitment I reaffirm today to bring inflation back towards 2% by 2025, is consistent with the full transmission of the monetary tightening that will have been put in place by summer 2023. … Against this backdrop of significant transmission “in the pipe“ and still to come, a deceleration in the size of the policy steps (from 50bp to 25bp) was wise and cautious. We obviously keep our hands free, but we add the capacity of observing and monitoring the pass-through of our substantial and exceptionally rapid past hikes. Persistence is now more important than speed; the duration for which we will maintain rates is now more important than the precise terminal level we will reach. Or in other words, for interest rates as with ballistics, “longer” is becoming more significant than “higher”. … Hence, our next rate decisions should not monopolise attention; we already have completed most of our rate-hiking journey, and we are clearly in restrictive territory. That said, as I said already last January, I expect today that we will be at the terminal rate not later than by summer. Summer is a long and beautiful season, which starts in June and ends in September. In the meantime, we have three possible Governing Councils either for hiking or pausing but don’t deduce a guidance from this or a preference for a given terminal rate. We will remain data driven, looking meeting by meeting at the outlook for headline inflation as well as for the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission.’

11 May 2023

‘… our commitment is to bring inflation back to 2% by 2025, and perhaps even from the end of 2024. Our confidence is linked to the fact that underlying inflation (excluding energy and food) can always and everywhere be effectively overcome by monetary policy. … We have already covered most of the way in this area [hiking interest rates] …What remains to be covered is more marginal. We have decided on rapid rate increases since July, because we were even starting from negative rates! We are now at 3.25%, and it is the future effect of these past hike decisions that should essentially allow us to reach our objective within two years.’

05 May 2023

‘We have come most of the way, even if there will probably still be some hikes. We have come most of the way, but from now on, perseverance counts more than speed. We have showed since last summer that we knew how to be rapid, we are ready to be persistent as long as it takes to beat inflation.’

 

Ignazio Visco (Banca d’Italia)
13 May 2023

‘…if there is one thing I would recommend, it is to be cautious in how we judge the prospects for future monetary policy moves. There is a very high level of uncertainty.’

‘The risks to the real economy are starting to be felt, and banks are more cautious at the European level, not just in Italy. …the tightening of loans and credits is beginning to contract consumption and investments.’

05 May 2023

‘The fundamental issue is that we live in a very uncertain world. We have an idea about where we’ll arrive and how, but for now it’s just an idea, we cannot know the peak rate already.’

 

Pablo Hernández de Cos (Banco de España)
22 May 2023

‘From the perspective of monetary policy, it must be taken into account that this inflation forecast — compatible, I insist, with our objective of price stability in the medium term — is based, among other assumptions, on market expectations regarding the evolution of our interest rates that place the terminal interest rate of the deposit facility at around 3.75% in the coming months, which would remain at that level in the following quarters and which would only be gradually reduced from the second quarter of 2024. Although we did not have new projections in May, the latest data published since the preparation of the March forecasts have shown, first of all, a behaviour of economic activity in line with expectations.’

‘As for the transmission of our monetary policy, the latest data confirm that it is being passed on strongly to monetary and financial conditions, while there is still a lot of uncertainty about the intensity and speed of this transmission to the real economy.’

‘…we decided to raise them by 25bp, a lower increase than in previous increases, in a context in which the tightening of monetary policy is already well advanced, with interest rates in clearly restrictive territory.’

‘…it is important to underline that, in the current environment of high inflation, for the policy mix to be appropriate it is necessary that the stance of fiscal policy is not incompatible with the tightening of our monetary policy. This means that public support measures should be temporary and targeted at the most vulnerable agents and adapted to maintaining incentives to consume less energy, and should be withdrawn as energy prices fall. Otherwise, we run the risk of increasing inflationary pressures in the medium term, which would require a stronger monetary policy response.’

‘Regarding the dynamics of underlying inflation, after an initial stage of predominance of pressures of external origin, these have been subsiding, while those of internal origin remain high and are gaining importance. However, as I have previously commented, it is to be expected that the fall in energy prices, the improvement in supply chains and the moderation of demand, as a consequence of the tightening of financial conditions, will gradually begin to produce downward effects on inflation. However, the intensity of these effects is uncertain, as they may not be symmetrical to the upward effects. The economic literature is not conclusive as to the existence or not of these possible asymmetries and, therefore, this dimension must be carefully monitored.’

‘Given the lags with which monetary policy operates, most of the expected impact on inflation of monetary policy tightening would occur this year and beyond, with the peak of this impact in 2024. Looking ahead, the process of tightening our monetary policy is already well advanced, although, with the information currently available to us, we still have some way to go. We also anticipate that interest rates will have to remain in restrictive territory for a long time to reach our target in a sustained manner over time. In any case, in a context of as much uncertainty as the current one, we continue to stress that future decisions will continue to depend on data. Let me finish by noting that it is clear that the process of tightening monetary policy is having and will have costs in the short term in terms of lower economic activity, but that maintaining price stability is the greatest contribution that the central bank can make to ensure strong long-term economic growth.’

17 May 2023

‘…the growth outlook will crucially depend on whether the projected disinflation materialises. A further persistence of high inflation rates would slow down the recovery and, should such persistence be observed in the euro area as a whole, would most likely lead to a further tightening of monetary policy and thus of financial conditions.’

11 May 2023

‘The macrofinancial risk landscape has changed in recent months and continues to evolve. In a relatively short period of time we have moved from low inflation and low interest rates to persistent high inflation and rising interest rates. This shift poses new and enhanced risks to financial stability.’

‘…in an environment as uncertain as the current one, including in relation to the degree of future monetary policy tightening, banks ought to implement a prudent provisioning and capital planning policy, and carefully preserve their current levels of resilience.’

10 May 2023

‘The future course of the world economy is also a cause for concern, in a context of monetary policy tightening worldwide and significant geopolitical risks, compounded by the doubt regarding the impact and persistence of recent financial tensions. …the growth outlook will crucially depend on the projected disinflation actually taking place. Greater persistence of high inflation would slow the recovery and, should it be seen in the euro area as a whole, would lead to a high probability of further tightening of monetary policy and, thus, of financial conditions.’

‘Looking ahead, euro area inflation is expected to remain at high levels over the rest of 2023, albeit on a declining path that would bring inflation close to our 2% target in the medium term. This decrease would be driven by a combination of factors, including the fading of the effects associated with the economic reopening, previous supply shocks (supply bottlenecks and soaring energy prices) and the depreciation of the euro. It is likely to be furthered by the growing pass-through of the recent drop in energy prices, the exchange rate appreciation and the easing of domestic demand as a result of, among other factors, our monetary policy decisions. However, this outlook is subject to much uncertainty, in particular regarding the potential duration of the war in Ukraine. Likewise, the financial market tensions, should they persist, could lead to a sharper than expected tightening of credit conditions, thus posing a downside risk to growth prospects and inflation. Conversely, continuation of the recent reversal of past supply shocks could foster confidence and support stronger growth than currently expected. The continued resilience of the labour market might also translate into stronger than expected growth by bolstering confidence and household spending. In addition, certain factors could delay the return of inflation to the 2% target in the medium term, most notably the possibility that energy price declines will pass through to other goods and services more slowly and to a lesser extent than past increases, the possible emergence of second-round effects via wages or profit margins and the uncertainty over the possible reversal of the fiscal policy measures introduced to mitigate the effects of inflation.’

 

Klaas Knot (De Nederlandsche Bank)
07 May 2023

‘Our real problem at the moment is that core inflation is still too high. … But our policy works with some delays so the biggest impacts of what we’ve done so far are still in the pipeline. That is why we have considered it responsible, and that was also my position in the meeting, to take a step back from half a percentage point to a quarter percentage point per meeting.’

 

Pierre Wunsch (Belgian National Bank)

 

Mārtiņš Kazāks (Latvijas Banka)
09 May 2023

‘I don’t think it is that clear yet [that the terminal rate will be reached in July]. We still have quite some ground to cover and further rate increases will be necessary to tame inflation. … Persistently high inflation is a bigger problem for society than a relatively short and shallow recession. Failing to contain inflation would be a failure because then the policy response in the second go would then need to be much tighter.’

 

Olli Rehn (Bank of Finland)
17 May 2023

‘Inflation is still far too fast, and especially core inflation, which is cleaned of the price of energy and food and is central to making monetary policy, has proven to be annoyingly tenacious.’

‘Interest rate decisions are evaluated, of course always on the basis of the latest data, how core inflation, net of energy and food prices, will develop and, on the other hand, how well monetary policy will bite. We need to see that core inflation is clearly and sustainably on a downward trend before we stop tightening monetary policy. In monetary policy, we have moved into an area that limits aggregate demand, and there is no reason for us to leave it prematurely, but to act consistently to stabilize inflation to the 2% target in the medium term. … we can achieve our price stability goal without causing unnecessary costs to the economy and employment.’

‘The regulatory reforms made after the global financial crisis fifteen years ago have significantly strengthened banks' buffers and crisis resistance. However, we should not be lulled into any false sense of security. Economic history has shown that major changes in the economic environment – such as a sudden rise in interest rates – can destabilize the financial system in unexpected ways. All the consequences of the rise in interest rates have not yet been seen.’

11 May 2023

‘Inflation is still far too fast, and especially the core inflation, which is cleaned of the price of energy and food, has proven to be annoyingly tenacious. … Inflationary pressures have still not subsided. The rise in core inflation slowed in April, but it is still well over 5% (5.6%).’

09 May 2023

‘We are committed to tightening monetary policy sufficiently to a level that will return inflation to the 2% target in the medium term. Interest rate decisions are made meeting by meeting based on the latest information on the economic outlook.

 

Madis Müller (Eesti Pank)
05 May 2023

‘Certainly all the ECB's board members have taken on board that it will take some time until inflation slows, while we cannot keep raising interest rates until a 2% inflation rate is reached, since all decisions and their ensuing economic impact come with a lag time, which is what we must take into account. … The hike in interest rates has already been quite rapid, but right now it would be prudent to give a little more time for the previous decisions to make their impact on the economy and to demonstrate their effects. … The expectation is that, going forward, core inflation might also begin to slow down, hand-in-hand with the general rise in prices, while this in turn could be a sign of more permanent weakening of inflationary pressures’

05 May 2023

‘In the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, we have emphasized that interest rates must be raised as long as we can be reasonably sure that price increases will be slowing steadily to close to 2% over a reasonable period of time. In light of what we know now, this means that yesterday's rate hike decision will not be the last. If you look at the expectations of analysts who closely monitor the economy and financial markets of the euro area, they consider it likely that the central bank will raise interest rates by another 0.5% during the summer and then stop. This would mean that the 6-month Euribor interest rate, which affects the loan payments of Estonian bank customers, would probably reach close to 4% or slightly above it. However, how high the central bank actually has to raise interest rates, no one knows today, because it depends on how the economy is doing in the coming months and quarters.’

 

Boštjan Vasle (Banka Slovenije)
05 May 2023

‘The mood at yesterday’s meeting of the Governing Council of the ECB reflected the slight improvement in the global and domestic economies, the persistently high headline inflation and, in particular, core inflation, and the effectiveness of the rises to date in key interest rates and their transmission into the banking system. In these circumstances the Governing Council of the ECB opted yesterday for further action, and raised key interest rates at the seventh consecutive monetary policy meeting, this time by 25 basis points. The decision was also taken provisionally to discontinue the reinvestments of maturing principal under the APP as of July of this year. As before, the next steps will depend on the situation at the time, in particular on the economic and financial data, developments in core inflation, and the effectiveness of our measures. The future decisions will ensure that monetary policy will be brought to levels sufficiently restrictive for as long as it takes to achieve a timely return of inflation to its target. Here it is important that the fiscal policy measures to protect the economy against high energy prices are temporary, and do not contribute to inflationary pressures that would require a more decisive response from monetary policy.’

 

Yannis Stournaras (Bank of Greece)
16 May 2023

‘Interest rates have risen 375bp. They have increased from -0.5 to +3.25. This is a very large monetary tightening and if we add to it the reduction of the European Central Bank's balance sheet, which is a reduction of around 12%, then we are now talking about perhaps the biggest tightening together with that of the 70s since World War II. So, we're close to the end. Now whether it's one more hike, two hikes, I can't tell you, that will depend on the inflation forecast, on the forecast of financial conditions in the euro area, we're already seeing a tightening of financial conditions, so we can't say as of now whether we will have one or two more increases.’

10 May 2023

‘We are close to the end. We are not there yet, so I agree with Mrs Lagarde that we still have some way to go. We can't say yet how many increases there will be. This will depend on inflation forecasts, economic growth and financial conditions. … As things are developing today and, if nothing changes dramatically, we can say that interest rate increases will end in 2023. … Interest rates will remain where they are today or higher for a while until inflation gets very close to the 2% target. … [This time period] will not be small. As things stand today, we predict that inflation in the Eurozone will fall to 2% in 2025. Of course, it will also approach 2% in 2024 but will not reach the 2% target.’

 

Peter Kažimír (National Bank of Slovakia)
09 May 2023

‘Last week’s slowdown in the pace of our tightening does not mark the end of the path, nor does it say that job’s done. The development of core inflation, the continued buildup of wage pressures, and high-profit margins call for vigilance and reconfirm the need to continue on our path. Nevertheless, signs of peaking inflationary pressures, tightening of credit standards and the resilience of the European financial sector to the recent volatility in financial markets allowed us to return to what can be called “business as usual”. But as I said, the battle against inflation is far from won and there’s a plenty of ground left to cover. Based on today’s data, we will have to keep raising interest rates for longer than anticipated. So slowing down the pace to 25bp is a step that will allow us to go gradually higher for longer. Should that be necessary and warranted by incoming data. We will wait to see what the data shows in the coming months and how fiscal policy develops. The reluctance of European governments to exit non-targeted fiscal measures could create a problem to which this policy would have to respond unequivocally. It would be desired to avoid that. The jury is still out there. The recent bank lending survey confirmed that the transmission of our policies is working. Nevertheless, we can only assess the cumulative impact of higher interest rates and tightening conditions on financial markets after September. Therefore, our September forecast will be the earliest date to answer how effective our measures are and whether inflation is moving towards the target.’

 

Mário Centeno (Banco de Portugal)
10 May 2023

‘We must be approaching the terminal rate. … [Monetary policy will then remain there] for some more time, but without raising rates, which should start to come down at some point during the year 2024.’

‘Whether this [the reaching of the terminal rate] is done in June or July [will] depend on inflation’.

 

Gabriel Makhlouf (Central Bank of Ireland)

 

Gediminas Šimkus (Bank of Lithuania)

 

 

Robert Holzmann (Austrian National Bank)
16 May 2023

‘… if I was for 50bp last time, I would be for 50bp next time, too. As long as we’re below 4%, we won’t be at a level of interest rates that allows us to pause and wait to see how things develop. I think we need to go beyond a 4% interest rate in order to draw even with the US – again, taking into account the different levels of r* - and it’s just a matter of whether we should go faster or slower. My assessment would be that faster would be more appropriate, in order to get to our terminal rate without wasting time. Because in such a case, ultimately, it also means that we can come back down sooner. Whereas if we go up slower, it is likely to require that we stay high for longer. And I prefer the former solution. … But unfortunately, the decision was another one, and so we have to move more slowly, which means that to get to 4% we need to take three more steps, and to get above 4% we need four more increases. As things are currently, that’s to get to the level we need to be at to deal with inflation. Perhaps there will be some miracle and we can stop sooner, but I don’t think it’s likely. … My focus is always on underlying inflation, which is approximated by core inflation, and core inflation has barely budged. It’s still very high, and although the rate hikes we‘ve already taken are beginning to have a small effect, I don’t think it will come down much more this year. Maybe a little bit. So, given this persistence of inflation, we have to be careful not to miss the train by hiking only after we needed to, which could force us to be much more rigorous and forceful with policy in the future.’

 

Boris Vujčić (Croatian National Bank)

 

Gaston Reinesch (Central Bank of Luxembourg)

 

Constantinos Herodotou (Central Bank of Cyprus)
18 May 2023

‘Currently, monetary policy is in the restrictive territory, as reflected in the significant tightening of the financing conditions. Even though headline inflation is declining, and financing conditions are tighter, there is still a lot of uncertainty. This is the main reason that a data-dependent approach on future policy rate decisions is required - in order to assess the headline and core inflation outlook on the basis of the incoming economic and financial data, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission. Policy rates need to be brought to and maintained at the necessary restrictive levels to achieve a timely return of inflation to the 2% medium-term target, while the same data-dependent approach will determine the potency and duration of this restriction.’

10 May 2023

‘As evidenced by recent data, especially the bank lending survey, the interest rate is at a restrictive level known as restrictive monetary policy.’