'Every reason' for ECB to cut interest rates: council member
The Peninsula
Paris: The European Central Bank has every reason to cut its benchmark interest rate at its next meeting on December 12, Governing Council member Fr...
Paris: The European Central Bank has "every reason" to cut its benchmark interest rate at its next meeting on December 12, Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau of France said Thursday.
Economists have been keenly awaiting the central bank's next move as the European economy sputters even as policy makers try to rein in inflation.
"Seen from today, there is every reason to cut on December 12," Villeroy de Galhau, also governor of the Bank of France, told the Euro 50 Group, a think tank of economists, bankers and public officials.
He did not indicate how big a cut could be on the cards, saying that "optionality should remain open on the size of the cut, depending on incoming data, economic projections and our risk assessment".
Currently the key ECB rate stands at 3.25 percent, and analysts are divided over whether a potential December cut will be 50 basis points or 25 points.
