ECB’s Kocher: “Clearly, Interest Rates Are Achieving What We Want”

26 January 2026

By David Barwick – LONDON (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher on Monday said that it was self-evident that euro area monetary policy was accomplishing its inflation objective.

During the Q&A following his academic lecture at the London School of Economics, Kocher, who heads the Austrian National Bank, said, “Clearly, interest rates are achieving what we want; we don’t have to communicate about that.”

“I’m pretty happy about the general setup of the ECB,” he said with respect to the institution’s clear mandate.

However, he noted, “The ECB cannot solve all … the economic problems that are there.”

Monetary policy was “extremely important” under circumstances of high inflation, he said. Under other circumstances, structural measures or fiscal policy could be more appropriate, he said.

Quantitative easing was a “very unconventional” tool and should be treated with caution, he said.