Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 9, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 9, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleKazimir states ECB needs a major inflation shift for policy change, with current policy steady amid economic uncertainties and euro appreciation impacts.
FRANKFURT, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A major deviation in economic and inflation trends would be needed for the European Central Bank to consider changing policy, Slovak central bank chief Peter Kazimir said on Monday, just days after the bank kept interest rates unchanged.
The ECB has been on hold since ending a rate cuts spree in June, arguing that inflation will hold around its 2% target, boosting market bets that policy will be steady all year before possible rate hikes next year.
"Looking forward, it would take a major departure from our baseline scenario for me to consider recalibrating the policy setting," Kazimir, who is generally considered a policy hawk, said in a blog post. "For now, the baseline holds."
The ECB's policy debate has been in an unusually narrow range in recent months, with nearly all public speakers voicing a similar view, even if some have warned that downside risks to inflation remain and this could eventually unsettle the ECB's "good place" narrative.
Kazimir repeated the ECB's view that inflation risks are balanced but argued that this hinged on favourable energy price developments.
Stronger economic growth could put upward pressure on prices while a further appreciation of the euro could be a drag, since that lowers import costs.
"Any further appreciation will have to be evaluated against the relative strength of the euro area's economic performance and ultimately our medium-term inflation target," he said.
In any case, uncertainty remains exceptionally high, volatility is likely to persist in the coming months and the overall situation is fragile, Kazimir added.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises, eroding purchasing power.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank for the euro and administers monetary policy within the Eurozone.
Monetary policy refers to the actions taken by a central bank to control the money supply and interest rates to achieve macroeconomic goals.
Economic growth is the increase in the production of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.
A policy hawk is a member of a central bank or financial institution who advocates for tighter monetary policy to control inflation.
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