European Central Bank Governing Council member Martins Kazaks said borrowing costs will still need to rise to battle high consumer price growth.
(Bloomberg) — European Central Bank Governing Council member Martins Kazaks said borrowing costs will still need to rise to battle high consumer price growth.
“Inflation still remains high and continued rate increases will be necessary in order to bring inflation down,” Kazaks said in an interview with Latvian TV on Friday.
The financial-industry turmoil that began in the US before spreading to Switzerland has complicated the ECB’s task of bringing inflation back to 2%. Kazaks and other rate-setters have called for more hikes, if fears over the banking system’s health recede.
Inflation in the 20-member euro zone still needs tackling. While data Thursday showed Spanish price gains almost halved to 3.1% in March as energy costs plunged, a gauge of core pressures barely budged. In Germany, the headline measure dropped sharply but was higher than analysts had expected. Figures for the entire region are due later this morning.
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