(Bloomberg) — European Central Bank Governing Council member Robert Holzmann said a December interest-rate cut is a possibility but by no means guaranteed, according to an interview with Kleine Zeitung published on Sunday.
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“As things currently stand, the possibility exists, there’s nothing at the moment that would speak against it, but that doesn’t mean that it will automatically happen,” the Austrian central bank chief was cited as saying by the newspaper.
The ECB has already lowered borrowing costs three times since June and is widely expected to do so again next month. Holzmann is one of the most hawkish officials and was the sole dissenter on the initial rate cut.
Commenting on Donald Trump’s victory in last week’s US presidential elections, Holzmann said that “it can be assumed that Trump will implement his plans to introduce tariffs — high against China, not quite as high against other parts of the world and Europe, but still significant.”
“There’s a danger of a stronger bloc formation, which is already becoming apparent,” he said. “In contrast to a common, preferably global development of trade, this would be to the detriment of everyone. Austria in particular, as a small export nation, benefits greatly from world trade.”
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