FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The European Central Bank is nearly done with interest rate cuts and should watch data through the summer months to determine whether a little more policy fine-tuning may be needed, Slovak policymaker Peter Kazimir said on Monday.
The ECB cut rates for the eighth time last Thursday and signalled that it may now pause after it fastest policy easing cycle since the 2008/2009 global financial crisis.
The ECB’s deposit rate now stands at 2% and investors price in just one more cut, to 1.75%, towards the end of the year
“As things stand now, I think we’re nearly done with, if not already at the end of, the easing cycle,” Kazimir said in an opinion piece.
While economic growth could turn out weaker than expected, Kazimir also said it would be a mistake to ignore risks that inflation, the ECB’s primary focus, could turn out higher.
“Incoming data throughout the summer will provide a clearer picture and guide our decisions on whether further fine-tuning is needed,” Kazimir added.
(Reporting by Balazs KoranyiEditing by Gareth Jones)
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