'No reason' for ECB to increase interest rates, French central banker claims

ECB president Christine Lagarde said last week that the central bank still saw Europe's inflation upswing as temporary and that there were no signs yet that the recent surge was becoming embedded in wages.

There is no reason for the ECB to increase rates between now and the end of 2022 as eurozone inflation is expected to fall back below the ECB's 2% target, Bank of France governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau has said.

He also played down concerns that problems at China Evergrande Group, which faces a liquidity crisis, could have a broader impact, saying: "There will be no contagion outside China. This is a serious problem for Chinese authorities."