Italian central banker criticises hawkish ECB colleagues as rift over rates widens

The head of Italy's central bank, Ignazio Visco, criticised comments from fellow eurozone rate-setters about how much higher interest rates will need to rise to tame inflation. Eurozone inflation has fallen for four consecutive months since hitting a record 10.6 per cent in October.

March 10, 2023 . 9:37 AM

1 min read

Ignazio Visco, head of Italy’s central bank, criticised comments from fellow eurozone rate-setters about how much higher interest rates will need to rise to tame inflation.
ECB has signalled it is likely to raise its deposit rate by half a percentage point to 3 per cent at its meeting next week.
Robert Holzmann, Austria’s central bank governor, said he expected the ECB to raise rates by half a percentage point at each of its four meetings between now and July.
Visco said monetary policy needed to be “prudent and driven by the data” to bring inflation back to 2 per cent in the medium term without jeopardising financial stability.
Eurozone inflation has fallen for four consecutive months since hitting a record 10.6 per cent in October but fell less than expected to 8.5 per cent in February.