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European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau speaking at a business conference in Frankfurt said that the ECB should continue pursuing accommodative monetary policies, even as inflation is moving towards its target.
Villeroy noted that the ECB policy is working and making progress towards its objective. He said that the ECB has warded off "the mortal danger of deflation" and expressed confidence that eurozone headline and core inflation will converge, be close to target in 2019.
As inflation is rising sharply on the back of rebounding energy costs, the ECB is increasing facing pressure to tighten policy. There is a split between the doves and hawks and ECB policy will evolve based on economic circumstances, Villeroy said. It is clearly not yet time for the ECB to stop pursuing accommodative monetary policies, he added.
Meanwhile data from the eurozone today showed worse-than expected current account data, which came in at EUR 24.1bln in Jan versus previously revised EUR 30.8bln and EUR 29.3bln expected.
