Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank council member Axel Weber said there's no scope for interest-rate cuts and policy makers may need to raise borrowing costs once the economy emerges from its slump.
``Monetary policy at the moment is roughly where it should be and I think the discussion about declining rates in Europe is premature,'' Weber, 51, said in an interview in his office in Frankfurt yesterday. ``If the economic outlook brightens somewhat again towards the end of the year and next year, which I still expect, we'll have to see if action is necessary.''
Europe's economy contracted in the second quarter and may not recover in the third, raising the risk of the region's first recession since the euro was introduced in 1999. Weber said the ECB, which increased its benchmark rate by a quarter point to 4.25 percent in July, remains focused on fighting inflation. Bond yields and the euro jumped.
``I don't expect inflation to come down necessarily just with weaker growth,'' Weber said. ``Inflation is still the No. 1 worry for central bankers in the euro region.''
``Weber wants to keep the option open to raise rates next year,'' said Holger Schmieding, chief European economist at Bank of America Corp. in London. ``He wants to choke any rate-cut debate.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=axhutEIlob3s&refer=home
This guy must be suffering from dementia...

``Monetary policy at the moment is roughly where it should be and I think the discussion about declining rates in Europe is premature,'' Weber, 51, said in an interview in his office in Frankfurt yesterday. ``If the economic outlook brightens somewhat again towards the end of the year and next year, which I still expect, we'll have to see if action is necessary.''
Europe's economy contracted in the second quarter and may not recover in the third, raising the risk of the region's first recession since the euro was introduced in 1999. Weber said the ECB, which increased its benchmark rate by a quarter point to 4.25 percent in July, remains focused on fighting inflation. Bond yields and the euro jumped.
``I don't expect inflation to come down necessarily just with weaker growth,'' Weber said. ``Inflation is still the No. 1 worry for central bankers in the euro region.''
``Weber wants to keep the option open to raise rates next year,'' said Holger Schmieding, chief European economist at Bank of America Corp. in London. ``He wants to choke any rate-cut debate.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=axhutEIlob3s&refer=home
This guy must be suffering from dementia...
