MADRID: European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Jose Luis Escriva says he is satisfied with present settings for borrowing costs.
“What the ECB is communicating in its statements after each meeting, and we’ll have one soon, is that as inflation is truly at the target, which is 2%, we think it’s a good time to look ahead and consider the current level of interest rates appropriate,” he told El Diario.
The ECB’s next rate decision is on Oct 30, with policymakers widely expected to keep the deposit rate at 2% – where it has been since June.
With inflation now comfortably at the ECB’s 2% target, markets and economists don’t expect another move at their final gathering of the year in December either.
Turning to Spain, Escriva highlighted his home country’s economic achievement.
“Not only is growth very high, but the positive growth gap with Europe is at unprecedented levels,” the Bank of Spain governor said.
“And this is, if anything, even more surprising or noteworthy, because the Spanish economy has only become more economically integrated with the rest of Europe.”
Spain is set to publish new output numbers on Wednesday, which are predicted to show the economy grew 0.6% in the three months through September.
That compares with an expansion of just 0.1% in the euro zone, where data are due on Thursday. — Bloomberg
