MNI BRIEF: Close Or Very Close To Rate High Point - Villeroy

The ECB is “close or very close” to the “high point” of interest rates, Bank of France Governor Francoise Villeroy said Friday, adding that the options for the Sept 14 Governing Council meeting are “open” and would be “open” at subsequent meetings also.

But rate cuts remain a long way off, he said. (MNI SOURCES: ECB Mulls September Hawkish Pause, August CPI Key)

But he added two convictions: we are close, or very close, to the high point of our interest rates; on the other hand, we are still far from the moment when we could consider lowering them.”

Villeroy added that the euro zone had passed the high point of underlying inflation, which is now “starting to turn around” he said. “This is an encouraging sign, but obviously it is still far from enough: we must and we will bring inflation back to 2% by 2025”.