ECB still needs to see slowdown in non-energy inflation, chief economist says

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The European Central Bank still needs to see a slowdown in non-energy inflation to be confident that overall price growth will hold at its 2% target, ECB chief economist Philip Lane said on Wednesday.

Inflation has been hovering around target for most of this year but non-energy inflation is still well above 2% and energy price deflation has pulled the overall figure down.

"So, for the sustainability of inflation at 2%, we do need to see more deceleration in non-energy inflation," Lane told a financial event in Paris. "We're confident that's going to happen because everything we look at tells us wage dynamics are set to decelerate further."

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by Mark Heinrich)