FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank will do everything to
ensure price stability, including hiking interest rates should that be
required, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said in an interview with
German television ZDF aired on Thursday night.
“We will always guard price stability and raise interest rates if
necessary,” Trichet said.
Earlier Thursday the central bank left interest rates unchanged at
1%, but Trichet struck an unexpectedly hawkish note during his monthly
press conference.
Trichet said that while inflationary risk are “still broadly
balanced,” they could “could move to the upside.” He emphasized that the
ECB stands ready to raise interest rates to keep prices stable.
–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69-720142, jtreeck@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$G$$$,M$EC$$,MFX$$$,MGX$$$]
