The European Central Bank is getting nearer to the point where it can stop raising borrowing costs, but it has some way to go yet as it seeks to bring inflation under control, according to Governing Council member Pablo Hernandez de Cos.
“We think that we still have some way to go in tightening monetary policy, although we also think that we are closer to the end,” de Cos, who is head of Spain’s central bank, said on Monday at an online event organized by the Incipe institute.
The ECB has raised interest rates steeply already and, while pondering the end of its unprecedented monetary-tightening campaign, still plans further hikes. After tightening by 375 basis points since July, additional quarter-point moves are likely at the next two meetings, with some policymakers suggesting more may be needed in September.
Euro-zone inflation data this week will probably show frustratingly slow progress toward the ECB’s 2% target. Consumer prices rose 6.3% in May from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. That’s down from 7% in April. Economists’ estimates for an underlying measure that strips out volatile elements such as energy point to a little-changed outcome of 5.5%.
