By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said Tuesday that a rate hike was “not guaranteed” after the latest euro-area inflation reading, adding that the figure was “expected” and that policymakers remained focused on the medium-term inflation outlook.

Rehn, who heads the Bank of Finland, said in an interview on Finland’s YLE TV1 A-studio that it was “better to assess monetary policy carefully,” even though “markets clearly price in rate hikes from the ECB.”

He declined to comment on the timing of any potential move and said decisions would be taken meeting by meeting.

Eurostat said earlier Tuesday that euro-area annual inflation was expected to rise to 2.5% in March from 1.9% in February, with energy inflation at 4.9%, while services inflation eased to 3.2%.