European Central Bank Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf acknowledged on Monday that he doesn't think the job is done on taming inflation. He highlighted that the services inflation in the Eurozone is still slightly higher than he would prefer.
The official also noted that he doesn't feel at the moment the need to rush with policy easing. He added that he continues to believe in a prudent and cautious approach to rate cuts.
Makhlouf also stated that it would be going a bit far to say that a rate cut by the ECB in December is in the bag. "We are going meeting by meeting," he stressed, admitting that the policymakers will have a new set of projections ahead of the next meeting. "Let's see what they will tell us,” he added and assured that the policymakers will make a reasoned and very good judgment-based decision.
In addition, Makhlouf emphasised that the evidence would need to be pretty overwhelming for a 50 basis-point rate cut in December.