ECB’s Stournaras: End of 1H 2024 Best Time for First Interest Rate Cut

1 April 2024

By Aurėja Bobelytė – VILNIUS (Econostream) – The end of the first half of 2024 is the best time for the first interest rate cut, European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said in an article published on Monday.

In an opinion piece published in Greek business daily Naftemboriki, Stournaras said that the ECB had managed to engineer a soft landing, but that amid high uncertainty, its battle was not over.

The ECB 'will move cautiously towards a less restrictive monetary policy in order not to jeopardize the progress achieved so far', he said.

Developments suggested that inflation would continue to weaken in the near term, he said.

'In my opinion, the end of the first half of 2024 would probably be the most appropriate time for our first rate cut, as long as the incoming data does not change the picture I just described', he said.

Monetary policy changes with respect to both interest rates and the balance sheet had to be gradual, he said, 'so as not to cause undesired fluctuations in the markets.'