The European Central Bank's chief economist, Otmar Issing, today indicated that the financial markets may be right to bet on a rise in euro zone interest rates in June.
Initially, ECB watchers had been expecting the guardian of the euro to tighten monetary policy next month after already raising rates by 0.25 percentage points to 2.5% in March.
But at the ECB's last rate-setting meeting on April 6, the bank's president Jean-Claude Trichet sought to quash any speculation of rate action in May.
Observers are now pencilling in a move on June 8, when the ECB's policy-setting governing council meets in Madrid. Such views were 'more in line with our assessment,' Issing told the International Herald Tribune in an interview.
