Member of the European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council and Bank of Lithuania Board Chairman Gediminas Simkus stated in an interview with Econostream published on Wednesday that he does not consider starting the discussion about cutting interest rates in March too early.
"I'm definitely of the opinion that cutting in March would be premature," Simskus insisted. "But I don't see anything wrong about discussing what the preconditions could be and how we on the Governing Council envision the situation in which we would make a decision."
"I can't exclude the possibility that we might cut in April. But it's quite low but not zero," he added. "As I see it, June is really the month to consider the rate cut. Whether we cut depends on how the economy develops. For instance, I anticipate clearer signs of deceleration. I wouldn't be surprised if the economy is still stagnating and we see inflation falling further in our projections."
