ECB Member Says Rates Could be Cut Further

The European Central Bank can cut its main policy rate even further after decreasing it to a new record low on Thursday, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said.

Responding to a drop in euro zone inflation well below its target level of just under 2 percent and rising unemployment, the ECB lowered its main rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.50 percent.

“We can always cut more. We were clear on this,” Coeure told French radio station France Inter on Saturday. “We will cut again if new indicators confirm a deterioration in the situation.”

ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday stuck with the ECB’s forecast that economic recovery would take hold lar in the year but highlighted “downside risks” to that position.

The ECB would “monitor very closely” all incoming evidence, Draghi said, a phrase which in the past has suggested further policy action to come.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza