Posted 2 Dec. 2022 at 4:50 PM
MADRID, Dec 2 (Archyde.com) – The European Central Bank (ECB) must remain focused on its medium-term objective of lowering inflation to around 2% and therefore continue to raise interest rates despite a slowdown in the rise in prices in November, the vice-president of the Frankfurt institute, Luis de Guindos, said on Friday.
“Inflation is starting to slow down, but this deceleration must be stable,” he told a conference in Madrid, adding that inflation could hover around 7% by mid-2023.
Inflation in the euro zone fell much more than expected in November year on year, to 10.0%, suggesting that the peak in prices has now been reached, according to the first estimate published on Wednesday by Eurostat.
Luis de Guindos judges, however, that the ECB must both avoid a stabilization of inflation well above 2% and an “M-shaped evolution of inflation”, a curve which would result in accelerations and slowdowns.
“Our fundamental objective, our mandate is to bring inflation to our definition of price stability, which is 2%,” he said, adding that the ECB needed to raise interest rates further. interest at the end of its monetary policy meeting on 15 December.
While the ECB has already raised the cost of credit by 200 basis points since July, the fastest pace since its inception, officials at the institution are split on a further hike of 50 or 75 basis points this month. -this. (Report Jesús Aguado; with Emma Pinedo; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Sophie Louet)