Politics

Central Bank governor warns government not to introduce mortgage interest relief

Gabriel Makhlouf said such policies are ‘untargeted’ and ‘counterproductive’ in his experience over many years

Gabriel Makhlouf has said that introducing relief for borrowers would lead to higher interest rates. Picture: Bryan Meade

The head of the Central Bank of Ireland has said introducing mortgage interest relief for homeowners would be “counterproductive” and warned it would force central banks to increase interest rates even further.

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin on Wednesday morning, Gabriel Makhlouf said he was “concerned” about some of the current proposals to introduce mortgage interest relief which he said seemed “deliberately” designed to undo monetary policy decisions from the European Central Bank ...