FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank (ECB) is unlikely to make any news of interest rate hikes but market expectations of a cut in the first quarter of 2024 are not realistic, the governor of the ECB said on Wednesday. the National Bank of Slovakia, Peter Kazimir.
His comments echo those of his colleague Isabel Schnabel, who on Wednesday judged to Reuters “unlikely” a further increase in borrowing costs in view of the “remarkable” slowdown in inflation.
“I agree with Isabel Schnabel that the upcoming inflation data supports the idea that further tightening will not be necessary,” Peter Kazimir said on X, formerly Twitter.
“However, expecting a reduction in the first quarter and second quarter is science fiction,” he added.
The next ECB meeting will take place on December 14. The president of the issuing institute, Christine Lagarde, should on this occasion signal the end of the cycle of monetary policy tightening but temper market participants’ expectations of a rate cut from March.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi, Blandine Hénault for the French version, editing by Kate Entringer)
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