ECB’s de Guindos: ‘Optimistic About the Evolution of Inflation’

14 February 2024

By David Barwick – SPLIT, Croatia (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos on Wednesday said that he was optimistic about inflation developments.

In an interview with Croatian television channel HRT, de Guindos noted that the ECB projected the achievement of 2% inflation ‘in a little bit more than one year.’

‘But, you know, recent data has been very positive’, he continued. ‘We had some positive surprises. So, let’s see what’s happening, you know, in … the projections that we are going to release in three weeks. … But so far, the process of disinflation has been quite clear, so I am optimistic about the evolution of inflation.’

The ECB would make decisions based on data, he said. The three ‘very relevant’ factors were the updated macroeconomic projections, underlying inflation and policy transmission, he said.

It’s quite clear that there is a tightening of financing conditions, and this has started to dampen domestic demand, the evolution of consumption and investment, that I think that is key in order to know how inflation is going to evolve’, he said.