Bundesbank president Mr Ernst Welteke said today the European Central Bank would be well advised to maintain its wait-and-see policy stance on interest rates.
His comments, in an interview with Germany's
Boerse Online
magazine, came two days before the next meeting of the ECB's governing council, of which he is a member.
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Mr Welteke said euro zone inflation, which eased to 2.4 per cent in January from 2.6 per cent in December, may well fall below the ECB's two per cent ceiling by the end of the year but that price risks remained.
Mr Welteke said the rise in import prices caused by last year's euro weakness was still working its way through the economic system. He said it was too soon to sound the all-clear.