European Central Bank governor Axel Weber has repeated a warning that inflation could sweep across Germany and the euro zone. His warning comes little more than a week before the ECB considers changes to its main interest rate.
'Risks remain oriented higher for euro zone price stability in the short and medium term,' said Weber, who is also president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank.
The main factors that could push consumer prices higher were food products and energy, Weber added. He warned that these would push inflation above the ECB's target of close to but below 2% by the end of the year.
Should inflation surge higher, 'we will do whatever necessary to ensure medium term price stability, as our mandate calls for,' Weber said.
He has rung alarms several times in recent weeks to call attention to rising inflation, and is known as one of the chief ECB 'hawks', or directors that give a higher priority to fighting rising prices than to boosting economic growth.
