FRANKFURT, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Euro zone inflation may be slowing more quickly than the European Central Bank earlier predicted due to lower energy prices but uncertainty remains high, ECB chief economist Philip Lane said on Thursday.
"The incoming data suggest that the process of disinflation in the near term in fact may run faster than previously expected, although the implications for medium-term inflation are less clear," Lane said in Washington.
"We need to be further along in the disinflation process before we can be sufficiently confident that inflation will hit the target in a timely manner and settle at target sustainably," he said in a speech at the Brookings Institution.
Reporting by Balazs Koranyi Editing by Francesco Canepa
