(ANSA-AFP) - FRANKFURT, DEC 16 - European Central Bank
President Christine Lagarde said Monday eurozone policymakers
would further cut interest rates if inflation continues to fall
on its path towards the ECB's two-percent target. "If the
incoming data continue to confirm our baseline, the direction of
travel is clear and we expect to lower interest rates further,"
Lagarde said in a speech at the Bank of Lithuania. The ECB cut
rates again last week as inflation looked to be coming under
control and the eurozone economy showed signs of weakness. The
quarter-point move was the Frankfurt-based central bank's third
cut in a row and its fourth since June. The easing cycle has
brought the ECB's key deposit rate down to three percent from an
all-time high of four percent. The central bank's stance
remained "restrictive", Lagarde said, meaning it would act as a
brake on business activity in the eurozone -- the ECB's main
lever for tamping inflation. The central bank, however, has been
loosening its monetary policy and softening its messaging as
consumer price pressures dissipate. (ANSA-AFP).
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