The European Central Bank’s chief economist has cautioned that the bank’s goal of getting inflation back to 2 per cent is “not yet secure” as he said interest rates will need to stay restrictive for the time being.
Philip Lane told the Kansas City Federal Reserve’s annual global symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that there had been “good progress” so far in taming price pressures across the Euro area. Yet, he struck a circumspect tone about how much relief the ECB will be able to provide borrowers.
“The return to target is not yet secure,” he said on a panel on Saturday. “The monetary stance will have to remain in restrictive territory for as long as needed to shepherd the disinflation process towards a timely return to the target.”