ECB’s Stournaras: Two Additional Rate Cuts Reasonable This Year

3 July 2024

By Aurėja Bobelytė – VILNIUS (Econostream) – Two more rate cuts are possible this year, given that the euro area would remain in restrictive territory after that amount of policy easing, European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said Wednesday.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Stournaras, who heads the Bank of Greece, said, ‘For the moment, two more rate cuts this year seems reasonable and consistent with our forecasts. We’re in highly restrictive territory and will continue to be even if we have two more cuts this year.’

According to Stournaras, the latest data bolstered the chances of further rates cuts.

Addressing the concerns about high services inflation, he highlighted that manufacturing goods inflation was below 2%.

‘And if we remove base effects, especially on energy, inflation is falling continuously for 12 months now. That is important’, he said.