ECB’s Centeno Calls for Prudence on Interest Rates

14 June 2024

By Aurėja Bobelytė – VILNIUS (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mário Centeno on Friday said that the ECB must remain data-dependent and prudent after cutting interest rates.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Centeno, who heads the Banco de Portugal, said, ‘We’ll learn more about how sensitive the economy and inflation are to our rate cuts as we move ahead. So we should continue to be data-dependent. We must be prudent in the months ahead.’

Due to base effects, inflation was expected to remain steady until August, but should converge closer to the 2% target thereafter, he affirmed.

‘We expect a gradual recovery, and interest-rate reductions will feed into this process as a stimulus, making sure that both consumption and investment can help preserve the conditions of the labour markets’, he said.