(Adds detail)
PARIS, March 9 (Reuters) - France's inflation peak will
come in the first half of this year, French European Central
Bank policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Thursday,
adding inflation across the euro zone was still too high and
remained the top priority for monetary policy.
"I can't comment on interest rates, but what is very
important is the inflation expectations", Villeroy said, adding:
"The peak will come this semester, and then inflation will halve
by the end of the year."
Central bankers were determined to bring inflation back
towards the 2% target between end-2024 and end-2025, Villeroy
said, saying they would do "whatever it takes" to reach that
goal, echoing remarks made by ECB chief Christine Lagarde
earlier this week.
The ECB has already raised rates by 3 percentage points
since July and essentially promised another half a percentage
point increase on March 16, but investors have recently
speculated on an even bigger move given poor inflation data.
Several policymakers have warned recently that ECB rate
hikes need to continue until core inflation turns around and
starts falling towards the ECB's 2% target.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Benoit Van
Overstraeten)
@tassilo_hummel;))
