MNI BRIEF: More Hikes Needed For Risk Balance Debate: ECB Lane

The European Central Bank has hiked its main policy rates into the "ballpark" of neutral territory but more will be needed, Chief Economist Philip Lane said in an interview with the FT published Tuesday.

Lane said rates were not yet at a level where the risks to further increases were two-sided when balancing growth and inflation, but accepted the balance would be more symmetric once further progress had been made. Then, "we will have to balance the risks of doing too much versus doing too little," he said. (MNI SOURCES: ECB Doves Eye Smaller Hikes As Inflation Falls)

Addressing the ECB's meeting-by-meeting approach, Lane said the Governing Council needed to keep "an open mind on the appropriate level of interest rates. The big error would be maintaining a misdiagnosis for too long," he said.