ECB rate cuts not a topic for the 'near term', Philip Lane says

ECB policymakers are at odds with markets over the timing of the first reduction in the deposit rate, which currently stands at 4%

The former Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland said officials “are going to be looking at the incoming data,” but that interest-rate cuts aren’t “a kind of near-term topic.” 

Lowering borrowing costs isn’t something the European Central Bank will be discussing imminently, according to Chief Economist Philip Lane.

“The December inflation number broadly confirms our assessment from the December meeting and our December projections,” Lane told the REBUILD conference in Dublin. The former Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland said officials “are going to be looking at the incoming data,” but that interest rate cuts aren’t “a kind of near-term topic.”