"While inflation in the euro zone continues to be high, we must act", hammered the president of the Bundesbank, in a speech delivered at a symposium of the institution, known for advocating a more monetary policy. restrictive.
To this end, the German central banker expects "net purchases (of debt) to be halted at the end of June", before "a first stage of interest rate normalization by the ECB in July" if the data and forecasts published in June are confirmed.
In the eurozone, inflation hit a record 7.5% year on year in April, according to Eurostat, well above the ECB's medium-term target of 2%.
"Delaying a reversal in monetary policy is a risky strategy," he warns, because "the more inflationary pressures spread, the greater the need for a very sharp and abrupt rise in interest rates."
These pressures on prices, especially those of energy, have been accentuated with "the Russian invasion of Ukraine", he noted.
A rise in rates should mainly concern the negative rate of -0.50% applied to deposits from banks dormant at the central bank, which is a benchmark.
This will be a major step in the ongoing process of normalizing the accommodative monetary policy conducted in response to crises, in particular those related to Covid-19 from 2020.
This call to decide on a first rate hike in July, which would be the first since 2011, echoes the declarations in the same direction at the end of April of Isabel Schnabel, member of the executive board of the ECB, as of the governor of the Central Bank from Finland Olli Rehn on Monday in the German press.
© 2022 AFP