ECB's Centeno: ECB may have to cut rates faster

Odaily Odaily News: Portugal's central bank governor and ECB board member Luis Centeno said in an interview with Politico that the European Central Bank may have to speed up the pace of rate cuts because data released since last week's rate cut showed that economic growth and inflation may be lower than the ECB's new forecasts. "Given where we are now, in the monetary policy cycle, we really have to minimize the risk of lower-than-expected interest rates because this is the main risk," Centeno said. Centeno's comments are the clearest sign yet that an October rate cut is still possible. The ECB is grappling with the question of how quickly it should ease policy when the economy is struggling to build momentum but also struggling to curb inflation completely. ECB President Christine Lagarde hinted last week that no further action would be taken before December when the ECB cut interest rates for the second time this year. Although ECB Chief Economist Ryan confirmed on Monday that policymakers "should remain selective" about the October rate cut, hawks on the Governing Council stressed that "a major shift is needed" to consider a continuous rate cut approach. (Jinshi)