ECB must cut rate twice before summer break, Stournaras says

“We need to start cutting rates soon so that our monetary policy does not become too restrictive,” Stournaras said in an interview in London

Yannis Stournaras, governor of the Bank of Greece, during a European Central Bank rates decision news conference in Athens, Greece.  Photographer: Yorgos Karahalis/Bloomberg

The European Central Bank must lower borrowing costs twice before its August summer break and two more times before the end of the year, without being swayed by the US Federal Reserve, according to Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras.

“We need to start cutting rates soon so that our monetary policy does not become too restrictive,” Stournaras, who also heads Greece’s central bank, said in an interview in London. “It is appropriate to do two rate cuts before the summer break, and four moves throughout the year seem reasonable. Insofar, I concur with the markets’ expectations.”