Robert Holzmann, Governor of the Austrian National Bank and member of the most orthodox wing in terms of monetary policy of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB), has declared himself in favor of continuing to raise interest rates due to the lack of information.
The member of the ECB Council has indicated in an interview offered to Bloomberg and collected by Europa Press that unless there are “big surprises” he sees no reason to “pause” in the rate increases that have been carried out over the last year .
Holzmann has pointed out the current uncertainty about the evolution of inflation in the coming months in the euro zone, in addition to recalling the importance of taking note of all the information as it is received in order to be able to make decisions taking into account the risks for prices.
The battle against inflation continues
Likewise, for the governor of the Austrian central bank, although the economy is not doing as well as expected, at the same time, “the slowdown is not so gigantic as to talk of falling into a recession.” “We are facing a stagnant economy,” he specified.
Holzmann’s comments come days after ECB President Christine Lagarde warned at a central bankers’ meeting in Jackson Hole last Friday that, despite the fact that monetary policy tightening is making progress, ” the fight against inflation is not yet won”.
In the current environment, for the ECB this means setting interest rates at sufficiently restrictive levels “for as long as necessary” to achieve a timely return of inflation to the medium-term objective of 2%, the French stressed.
