Inflation
Analysis: As inflation slows, will the ECB finally climb down on interest rates next week?
Julien Lafargue, chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank, said that the ECB appears ‘ready to go’ on cuts
It is becoming more and more difficult for the European Central Bank (ECB) to downplay the expectation of imminent interest rate cuts.
This week euro-area inflation inched closer to 2 per cent, as consumer prices recorded an annual rise of 2.4 per cent in February.
The more pronounced than expected slowdown has bolstered the prospect of long-awaited cuts ahead of the ECB’s latest monetary policy meeting.
At its last meeting in January, the ECB retained the record-high of 4.5 per cent for lending rates for the second quarter running, following ten successive hikes in a row from July 2022.