ECB’s Rehn: We Are ‘Ready to Act if Necessary’

28 August 2025

ECB’s Rehn: We Are ‘Ready to Act if Necessary’
Olli Rehn, governor of the Bank of Finland, at the 8th ESRB annual conference in Frankfurt on September 27, 2024. Photo by Adrian Petty/ECB under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said on Thursday that the ECB would be ready to act if needed.

In a speech at the Turku Europe Forum in Finland, Rehn, who heads the Bank of Finland, said that uncertainty about geopolitics and US trade tensions could impact the economic outlook.

‘Euro area economic growth has proven to be more sustainable than expected’, he said. ‘On the other hand, inflation is slowing in the short term, below the 2% target, as a result of cheaper energy, a stronger euro and a slowdown in services inflation.’

The ECB was closely monitoring economic developments and was ‘ready to act if necessary’, he said.

The Federal Reserve’s independence was being threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump, a development that could have consequences for global financial markets and the wider economy, according to Rehn.

‘Despite all the trade wars and power politics, I consider a rapid, significant weakening of the dollar's dominance unlikely’, he said, noting that the influence of currencies has historically shifted only gradually.

 

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