EU's Noyer - not moment to raise rates

 

There is no pressure on the European Central Bank to raise interest rates for the moment, with inflation expectations anchored well below 2 percent, governing council member Christian Noyer said on Wednesday.

"For the moment, nothing would justify it" Noyer told Les Echos in an interview from the French business daily's Thursday edition released ahead of publication.

He noted that inflation forecasts in the euro zone were around 1.2 percent in 2010, with inflation expectations anchored well below the ECB's target level of 2 percent.

He also said it was too early to start withdrawing the massive amounts of liquidity the ECB had injected into the markets to prop up growth following the near-collapse of the global financial system.

"This liquidity obviously has to be withdrawn eventually. I note incidentally that the market is starting to pick up the baton. But the moment has not come to withdraw this liquidity."

Noyer, who is also governor of the Bank of France, said economic growth in both the euro zone and France would probably slightly exceed 1 percent in 2010 and he saw no reason why world growth could not reach around 5 percent in coming years.