Economy

Greek central banker says four ECB rate cuts of 25 basis points each ‘possible’ this year

ECB’s policymaker Yannis Stournaras made the comments in a newspaper interview released on Sunday

Yannis Stournaras, governor of the Bank of Greece, during a European Central Bank rates decision news conference in Athens in October 2023. He has suggested that four rate cuts by the ECB this year of 25 basis points each could be possible. Photographer: Yorgos Karahalis/Bloomberg

Sun Mar 31 2024 - 16:21

The European Central Bank could possibly cut rates by a total of 100 basis points or 1% this year but there was still no consensus within euro zone’s central bank on that, ECB’s policymaker Yannis Stournaras said in a newspaper interview released on Sunday.

“Personally, I believe that cutting rates four times this year, by 25 basis points each, is possible,” Stournaras told Greek newspaper Proto Thema.

However, not everybody in the ECB shares that view yet. “Some colleagues are more sceptical and they think that rate cuts should be more moderate,” he added.

Stournaras said last week that it seemed there was a consensus within the ECB for a rate cut in June and that the bank had no reason to wait for the Federal Reserve in the United States to cut rates first.

READ MORE

In a bid to tame inflation, the ECB has pushed through a number of interest rate increases since the summer of 2022, increasing its key rate by 4.5 percentage points. – Reuters

LATEST STORIES