"This has never happened before, it has never gone so fast.
We need some patience to allow these 300 basis points of
increase to have an impact on inflation, because that is our
main goal," he said.
(Reporting by Federico Maccioni, editing by Cristina Carlevaro,
Kirsten Donovan)
(Adds quotes, background)
MILAN, March 6 (Reuters) - Policy decisions after an
increasingly likely 50 basis point (bps) hike in interest rates
expected later this month must be based on data, European
Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Mario Centeno was
quoted as saying on Monday.
"We need to look very carefully at what the March forecast
will be. This is the most important data we will have to guide
our future decisions," Centeno told daily La Stampa.
On Sunday, ECB President Christine Lagarde said that
underlying inflation in the euro zone would stay high in the
near term, making a 50 bp hike later this month increasingly
certain.
The ECB has already raised rates by 3 percentage points
since July and essentially promised another half a percentage
point increase on March 16.
"If you ask me what will happen after March, I think it is
important to take seriously the estimates that we will have in a
few days," Centeno noted, adding that the process of raising the
main interest had been too fast.
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