ECB Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau stated that ECB’s mission to bring inflation back towards 2% by between end-2024 and end-2025 would only be considered successful when underlying inflation, excluding energy and food prices, is under control.
Villeroy emphasized that the ECB would not give up prematurely, saying, “Although we have completed most of our rate-hiking journey, we may possibly still have a little way to go.”
He added that since it takes an estimated one to two years for rate hikes to impact inflation, the 3.5 percentage points in increases implemented by ECB since July would have a “fairly powerful impact” in the future.
